Flags and tartan in Scottish independence leader´s home village

STRICHEN: Flag-waving schoolchildren and tartan caps greeted Scotland´s First Minister Alex Salmond on Thursday as he voted in the remote farming village he calls home -- where the man who could be the father of independence is just "a nice bloke".

A few kilometres inland from the fishing ports on Scotland´s northeastern coast, Strichen´s main street with its quaint stone houses are surrounded by rolling farmland, with sheep and cattle grazing in misty fields.

"We know Alex very well. He´s a nice bloke, we´ve spoken to him a number of times. We don´t see him here so often now because he´s a busy bloke," Hendry Whittaker, a 73-year-old retired truck driver wearing a tartan cap, told AFP.

"When we had all the shops, it was a different time and we used to see him regular, but now there´s very few shops we don´t see so much of him.

"His wife Rita said they used to meet him buying butteries, a savoury kind of bread roll which originated in Aberdeen.

"Years ago when he used to come home, we used to meet him in the bakers because he was going out for his butteries! And sausage rolls.

But the bakers shut so we haven´t seen him for I don´t know how long," she said.The Scottish National Party leader, who lives in the village with his wife Moira, has been a force on the local political scene since the late 1980s, and he greeted familiar faces and chatted to constituents as he made his way to vote.

Wearing a tartan tie, a navy checked suit with a "Yes" badge pinned to his lapel, Salmond was all smiles as he arrived at Ritchie Hall to cast the ballot he has spent a political lifetime campaigning for.

He was flanked by two first-time female local voters.Lea Pirie, 28, is pregnant, while 17-year-old Natasha McDonald faced another moment of destiny later in the day: her driving test.Salmond put his arms around them as he posed for photographs.

"We´re now in the hands of the Scottish people and there´s no safer place to be," Salmond told AFP after voting.

"I think the message is for Scotland: let´s do it now."It´s an extraordinary moment. It´s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We´ve got the chance to build a more prosperous economy but also a fairer society. That´s a wonderful, positive vision and that´s why Scotland´s grasped that opportunity with both hands.

"We can take our own future into our own hands."