Needled
YOU see so many folk with tattoos these days. A reader heard a young woman in Glasgow city centre giving her pals a great reply when she defended her decision not to get any type of tattoo on her body – not even a little star or a dolphin. As she argued: "You wouldn't put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari would you?"
Train of thought
NOT many mentions of Scotland in Jeremy Corbyn's speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday but we did like his reference to the East Coast railway franchise collapsing for the third time in a decade. As he said: "You get on a train at King's Cross and you never know who will be running it by the time you get to Edinburgh. "
Pull the wool
THE Ryder Cup starts in Paris tomorrow and it reminds us of when VisitScotland boss Peter McKinlay was lobbying for the golf competition to be brought back to Scotland and was wearing a smart jumper with the logo Scotland Ryder Cup on it while visiting the Scottish Open some years ago. He was stopped by a councillor who asked if he could get one of the jumpers in order to support the bid. Peter replied that there were no more to be had but, as the councillor still stood there, Peter gamely pulled the jumper over his head and handed it to him. Such actions demonstrated how determined Scotland's Ryder Cup bid was – and cooncillors' predilections for freebies.
Not so healthy
WE mentioned older folk talking incessantly about what is wrong with them, and a reader tells us: "I have an acquaintance who never stops prattling on about her many ailments. As they say, she enjoys ill-health."
Never forget
A SOUTH side reader swears to us that at a quiz night in a Glasgow pub, in the music round, the quizmaster asked what the full name of the first Take That album was, which was four words long and began with "Take That". She says one team replied, 'Ya Bastirt".
In the swim
WE asked about meeting someone famous and former Cumbernauld councillor Gerry McElroy recalled meeting retired Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Anita Lonsbrough at an international gala in the town. Gerry says: "It was a two-day event and the next day someone gave me a Scottish Amateur Swimming Association tie to go with my white shirt and also a clipboard and stopwatch to help with some minor timekeeping duty. Anita passed by, stopped, looked me up and down and said, 'good evening Mr McElroy. Are you trying to look efficient?' Fair chuffed that she had remembered me I blurted out, 'yes, I am as a matter of fact.' To which she said, 'difficult isn’t it?'"
On the menu
SIMON Holland muses on bringing up children: "It’s weird how we tell our kids not to lie until they turn 11 and the children’s menu is for 10 and under."
Eye opener
A HILLHEAD reader confesses to us: "My teenage daughter came into the room before a night out and asked, 'What to you think of my eyelashes?' I couldn't stop myself from replying, 'I'm glad you told me they were your eyelashes as I was about to smack them with my Herald."
Snap
GROWING old, continued. A Stirling reader says: "Judging by all the snapping, crackling, and popping noises my body makes when I stand up, I reckon I must be about 75% Rice Krispies and 25% water."
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