SOME of us read with interest last week that Doddie Weir had made his first public appearance since announcing he had been diagnosed with MND.

This came as something of a surprise to those had seen Dod flying in helicopters, bungee jumping, appearing in countless selfies, and watching three Lions Test matches along with his wife Kath and sons in New Zealand.

Maybe it was a stunt double.

Last week, Doddie’s ‘Islands of the World’ tour took him to Coll, where he went to visit former Scotland captain Rob Wainwright and attend the local agricultural show, along with the ‘Double Gloucester’ boys Ian Smith and Pete Jones.

Things started badly when  a miscommunication saw them arrive with 20 loaves of bread, when the actual order had been just two!

Joining in the spirit of things, the guests decided to enter the livestock competition. No, they hadn’t packed some sheep alongside the bread, but borrowed some from farmer Wainwright, who having picked the best of his flock, allowed the visitors second dibs.

Come judging time, Dr Wainwright was left disappointed; none of his sheep became prize-winning – unlike the leftovers adopted by Dod & Co, who made a clean sweep of the prizes.

TALES about the Hamilton Accies announcer telling Aberdeen to get on with their substitution the other night reminded me of other vocal interventions one night in Lanarkshire when the Motherwell MC, who was having problems with his microphone  in a game against Rangers, decided to test it, not with the conventional ‘one, two’, but by blowing down it a couple of times before shouting, ‘hello, hello.’

You can guess the punchline.

GOING through some emails  I found one reminding me that tickets were on sale for Scotland’s World Cup qualifier on September 4 against Malta. What really caught my eye was the advertising graphic that accompanied the appeal, which stated ‘That was emotional. This is crucial.’

The emotional bit obviously referred to our glorious draw against England in June. The crucial bit I don’t get. Isn’t every game crucial, a must win? No, I was forgetting that our opening tie against Lithuania wasn’t a must win game, according to coach Gordon Strachan at the time.

Maybe the mantra; ‘He was wrong. Now we’re desperate’ would be more fitting for Malta.

THIS weekend the British Touring Car Championships are in town, well, Knockhill in Fife to be exact, a challenging little venue, not just because of the twisty, undulating nature of the circuit, but, also Knockhill’s unique micro-climate.

Twenty-plus years ago, when the track was first used by the BTCC, melting Tarmac was an issue during testing and qualifying. The following year, when the teams rolled up attired in shorts and shades, the drivers and technicians were confronted by biblical-style rain.

Hence why the dress code on one invite for tomorrow’s racing suggests ‘casual clothing and be mindful of changeable weather conditions.’