Talk of the Town: Free pies at rugby will Currie favour

THE pies have it at Currie rugby club where supporters are being offered a Scotch version free with every pint purchased when Worcester are entertained in a British and Irish Cup tie at Malleny Park on Tuesday, February 8.

The reason for such generosity is cited as the fact pies go nicely with Worcestershire sauce.

Would-be Worcester visitors are being told: "The Scotch pie is highly portable. Ask any rugby follower - you can't hold a hot dog because it will slip out of your hand when you celebrate a try: pasties and steak pies tend to fall apart and pizzas don't get a look in.

"The Scotch pie has been the essential part of matchdays ever since their popularity arose in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution."

Palace closure adds to wedding speculation

ROYAL spokesmen refused to comment earlier this month on speculation that the Queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, will marry at Canongate Kirk in the Royal Mile on July 30.

But the fact another couple agreed to switch their wedding from the Canongate to Greyfriars Kirk indicated something was going on.

And now the speculation has been fuelled by a mysterious announcement that the Palace of Holyroodhouse - ideal for a wedding reception - will be closed to the public from July 27-30.

The Royal spokesmen are still not commenting.

You should be so lucky

DESPITE all our modern ways, it seems we are still a superstitious bunch.

New research shows almost one in ten people admit to relying on superstitions to get them through the day. Almost a third follow superstitious rituals unfailingly more than twice a day, with some more than ten times a day. Touch wood we don't get that bad.

A date to, eh, forget . .

WHEN your business is arranging conferences, you would hope that you would at least get the dates right, but it seems that is something of a struggle for the Edinburgh Convention Bureau.

Every year, the organisation sends out calendars to around 200 of its business contacts.

This year, recipients were slightly confused to see that many of the dates were wrong, such as January 25, which was a Sunday.

The ECB got the calendars reprinted and sent out a letter apologising for the mix-up, with the new calendar attached.