Getting cross
HOW is this for marketing? Reader Jane Ann Liston in St Andrews noticed that her local Morrisons' supermarket had a large sign stating "Celebrate Burns Night" with a handy picture of Rabbie Burns and an advertisement for "Saltire Buns". She had never heard of saltire buns so she looked a little closer – and the label on the packaging of said baked goods actually identified them as hot cross buns.
Nice to get the Easter goods moving along a little earlier.
Exit strategy
TRYING to find something positive in all this Brexit bourach? We commend Scots stand-up Scott Agnew who says: "Quite purposely not started a New Year, new me January diet as I fully expect to starve post-March 30th. Think thin, think Brexit."
Paint it red
ONE of the many downsides of January is making sense of your credit card and bank statements after the free-for-all of Christmas and December. As Neil Reynolds confessed: "This just happened to me! Saw a transaction for £500 to The Body Shop in the bank account. Accused my wife of going mad on shower gel. Then realised it was the car getting fixed after someone had stolen brake lights and damaged the paintwork."
Sweet success
LOOKING for someone else being positive in the current gloom, we spot a woman remarking on social media, and we wonder how many folk would agree with her, who stated: "Sometimes I just wish everyone could be as happy as I am when I find stray sweets at the bottom of my purse."
Glass act
A FINAL pub glass story from a reader who tells us: "At work one year my secret Santa gave me whisky miniatures with an inscribed Famous Grouse glass. I was delighted. The next year I received a pack of beers with a branded pint glass. The following year another branded glass.
"At a New Year party, I used the inscribed glasses, leading to banter about me being a serial glass nicker, and subsequently my friends started giving me glasses to add to my "collection". I have never borrowed a glass in my life, but I now have 19 hidden in a cupboard. Do you think the charity shops would welcome stolen goods?"
Oh, and he adds: "Don't mention my name, as the glass thing has quietened down and I don't want it started again."
Moving
OUR stories of etymological misunderstandings remind Mary Duncan: "It's not just Scotland having different words, but areas within. I had to tell my Aberdonian sister-in-law when she and her husband were moving to Glasgow that she really would have to stop talking about having a man come round to do a wee jobbie in her house."
Brass neck
TODAY'S piece of whimsy comes from Martin Morrison in Lochinver who tells us: "I pulled the muscles in my neck and was rigid with pain. I went to the doctor and he gave me some painkillers and a stiffened collar. Really, I haven't looked back since."
Remotely interested
GROWING old continued. A Glasgow reader confesses: "Mount Etna is 500,000 years old and is still active, yet I've only turned 60 and can't be bothered changing the channel to watch a favourite show because the remote control is across the other side of the room."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here