IF you think you are having a rough time in all this bad weather, then spare a thought for Anna Smith, best-selling crime author and former chief reporter at the Daily Record in Glasgow.
One of Anna’s boltholes – the other is in sunny Spain – is a remote house on the exposed Dingle Peninsula on Ireland’s southwest coast.
At the height of a storm blowing in from the Atlantic, she told pals: “Sitting here as my garden shed flew past the fecking window. Jeez oh man! Then the wheelie bins flying 10ft in the air. This is unbelievable. Must be over 100mph gusts!”
The author of Screams in the Dark added: “Honestly, this is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like a tornado. The whole house is shaking and it’s a massive concrete block house.”
And then joked: “If this keeps up I might need to open the sherry.”
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AN Aberdeen shopkeeper becomes the first person in Scotland to be banned from selling tobacco after having been found repeatedly selling cigarettes to people aged under 18 (the law having, seven years ago, upped the age from 16 to 18).
And of course, there’s an accompanying pic in the article carrying the story, in The Scotsman.
This will be one occasion when having one’s newspaper masthead slapped across the top of a shop door doesn’t sound like such a great idea after all, the large-ish pic being dominated by the name of the city’s local evening newspaper…
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BBC Scotland education and local government correspondent, Jamie McIvor, has told his friends on social media that he is “toying with the idea of taking a wee sabbatical in a year or two”.
Should it be signing up for VSO – Voluntary Service Overseas – or writing a book, perhaps?, he asked his Facebook friends.
Joining a cult and jogging around Iceland in his undergarments – was one.
From BBC Radio Scotland’s Theresa Talbot: “Come round and clean my house then write a book about it… you’ve helped the unfortunate and sated your need to do something creative – sorted.”
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THE journalists are gathered, possibly a few photographers, maybe even a camera crew or two. They are all waiting for the arrival of a new player to the squad at Greenock Morton football club.
The Daily Record, among others, takes up the tale: “New Morton striker, Rowan Vine, missed his first training session at the club after putting the wrong fuel in his car and breaking down on the M8.
“He borrowed a mate’s vehicle… to meet his ‘Ton’ team-mates for the first time.”
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WELL done to Tim Blott, managing director of the Herald & Times, publishers of, among others, The Herald newspaper.
He was among several well-kent folk last week lending their support on the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow for The Big Issue magazine, which seeks to lift people out of homelessness.
But the image of him selling copies of the magazine had one wag, quipping: “Cue punchlines.”
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FORMER Highlands correspondent for The Scotsman, John Ross, is famous for, among other things, being the regular host of the Highlands and Islands Press Ball – which was held on Friday.
But the spotlight has recently also fallen on his son, Nick, whose ‘injury time’ equaliser against Hearts ten days ago helped his side, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, reach their first-ever national cup final.
So, no surprise, then, that an ICT-signed football ball was one of the raffle prizes at the Press Ball, which has found its way to a good home in the city, allmediascotland hopes – since it was us ‘wot won it’.
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GRATEFUL to The Herald’s Unspun political diary for this, from Saturday: “It’s been a sore week for Newsnight Scotland stalwart, Gordon Brewer, who learned the show would be off air from May to October to make way for Scotland 2014, with Channel 4 recruit, Sarah Smith.
“Newsnicht Scotland is not expected to return. Bad enough, you’d think, but the news broke the same day as a delayed Christmas party.
“Gordon was not in particularly festive mood, reports our man in the paper hat.”
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ADMISSION from Real Radio Scotland presenter, Ewen Cameron. He tweeted, yesterday: “I put on my first CV that I was a manager at M&S. I was only there for a weeks work experience! What fibs have you put in a CV?”
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AND so, to the annual listing of eligible singles, published by Scotland on Sunday.
At No.13, in the men’s list: Alan Jenkins, 27, broadcast journalist: “From honing his skills at Radio Tay, Jenkins made his dream move to STV last year – his Dundee beat has seen him cover stories as varied as fighting to keep Perth City Hall standing and the arrival of four Humboldt penguins at St Andrews Aquarium. He’s now moving north to Inverness, and his supporters believe it is just a matter of time before he’s a household name.”
And at No.14, in the women’s list: Lindsay Brown, 37, marketing manager, VisitScotland: “Not just a pretty face, Brown is known as ‘Can you keep up’ Barbie, a woman who speaks Italian and French fluently and has taught herself a little Spanish. Just for fun. She’s been scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, climbed the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu and cycled the Death Road in Bolivia, loves Scottish dancing and also manages to find time to be a great auntie to her nieces and nephews.”
At No.23, in the women’s list: Antonia Lee-Bapty, 35, marketing manager, EuansGuide.com: “A balanced mix of super-geeky, sporty and social butterfly, Lee-Bapty is the doyenne of random adventures, whether flying to Orkney for lunch or having a go at bobsleighing. After founding and running her own business for more than five years, she’s now helping to establish EuansGuide.com, a website that features access reviews by disabled people, and which has been endorsed by Stephen Hawking.”
At No.24, in the women’s list: Karen Kelly, 41, television director: “Widely recognised as one of Scotland’s strongest creative talents, Kelly is an award-winning documentary filmmaker – in December, her latest series of Teen Canteen went out on BBC Two to widespread critical acclaim. She has directed episodes of River City and EastEnders and is currently developing her first feature, a tragic tale of forbidden love set in the North-east of Scotland.”
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