Talk of the Town: Hot wheels fail to hold Alastair back

FUNDRAISING can be a tricky business at the best of time, so it must have been especially tough on one good Samaritan who almost had his plans for a charity money-making scheme ruined after his bike was stolen.

Alastair Tibbitt, development manager for Greener Leith, had planned a three-day bike ride from Edinburgh to Newcastle to raise money for the sustainable travel charity SUSTRANS, but was distraught to find his means of transport had been pinched from outside his home overnight.

Thanks to some kindly souls at his local pub, Mr Tibbitt was able to carry on, and he revealed that after the first night, despite some falls and a couple of punctures, the pub bike was holding up fine.

Danny's in the saddle but it's Y Viva el SuBo

STAYING on the subject of bicycles, Danny MacAskill continues to storm up the YouTube charts.

The stunt cyclist's antics around the Capital is the most watched Edinburgh video with an incredible 18.9 million views.

For anyone in Scotland who hasn't yet seen it, it's well worth a view, but please don't try it at home.

Incidentally, the most watched SuBo video has had more than 45,250,000 views - that's roughly the population of Spain.

Try a cup of decaf, Ian

JUST a few days after Talk of the Town spotted JK Rowling tapping away on her laptop in Bruntsfield's Costa coffee, the chain seems to have fallen from favour with fellow Merchiston author, Ian Rankin.

In a series of Tweets the writer told followers yesterday: "Driven out of Costa this morning by screaming infants. If I owned a cafe the sign on the door would read: no buggies, no under 18s...no students spreading out their work while nursing a small coffee, no business phone calls, in fact no phones full stop, no nicking my electricity with your laptop."

Perhaps he needs a nice cup of tea.

What a waste of money

THE ideals of the Government's Big Society, where everyone digs in to help make Britain a better place, will probably depend on the youth of today doing their bit, so a recent survey by O2 will be a bit of a blow to locals,

It reveals that while 78 per cent of adults in Edinburgh believe young people have the power to make a positive impact in the community, 45 per cent believe youngsters will squander any money given to them, even if they are told it is to be used for the good of the community.

Then again, at 16 you might think having the latest Jedward CD is a benefit to community.