Talk of the Town: Keep score of time wasted by game

Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said that football is not a matter of life and death – it’s more important than that.

And it seems that instinct extends beyond reality and into the sport’s virtual world.

Edinburgh-based writer Kenny Millar has co-authored Football Manager Stole My Life, a tome of tears and triumph revealing the secrets of grown men besotted with the popular computer game.

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Capital gamer Adam Morris summed up the obsession by telling Kenny: “I genuinely feel that if I’m mid-game and my girlfriend comes in, it has a negative impact on the team. It really does seem that her entrance into a room gives the opposition a lift. I sometimes call her their 12th man.”

Yes, that’s right, he has a girlfriend.

Doo you think pigeon fanciers are sexy?

THE Capital’s pigeon fanciers – or doomen – are in the spotlight thanks to a startling series of images profiling their activities.

From one of Edinburgh’s few female fanciers, or doowomen, to an ex-builder who has kept birds for five decades, the slideshow reveals the unique world of pigeon breeding in striking fashion.

Among the fanciers is Lochend-based Anton Barclay, 21, who is seen preparing to release one of his male pigeons in order to entice a female back into his hut.

Sounds like Anton’s got a good wing man.

Think pink next month

YOU’LL have heard of Movember - when men sprout face fuzz for cancer charities. Now it’s time to get on board with Pinktober.

Hard Rock Cafe’s breast cancer awareness campaign will see Big Country play an acoustic set at the George Street venue on Thursday, October 25.

The restaurant is thinking pink, selling food and merchandise in keeping with the the occasion. Pinktober kicks off at 7.30pm on the night. Tickets costing £20 can be purchased from the cafe or via www.ticketweb.com.

Fables on the table

FOR retired Edinburgh University professor Peter Higgs, it was the discovery he’d been waiting for all his life. Now the phrase “God Particle” – the common term for the Higgs Boson – has made it into Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, edited by Susie Dent from Countdown.

Other new entries which sum up modern times include “tea party”, “chipping Norton set”, and Lord Sugar’s famous catchphrase, “You’re Fired!”