Talk of the Town: Nicola suited and booted at Castle

AS Edinburgh landmarks turned pink to mark the launch of Breast Cancer Awareness month on Tuesday night, inside the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was addressing a 200-strong invited audience.

She entertained them by reminiscing about the first time she was called on to make a speech at the historic venue.

She recalled that the topic of her talk was anti-violence, and that mid-speech she had looked round the panelled walls only to realise they were decorated with bayonets, swords and all manner of 16th century stabbing implements.

There were also tiny suits of armour worn by the diminutive soldiers of the time, and one wag commented: "Naebody in here could fit in them . . . 'cept for wee sparra Sturgeon, of course."

Are you sure you had them on when you left home?

THERE is no better night than one that ends at the eternally-raucous Port O' Leith bar.

Alongside the punters dancing on the bar and the drunken friendships made and lost between strangers queuing in the matchbox-sized ladies, leaving behind articles of clothing is also a staple of a night out at the Constitution Street pub.

Staff used its Facebook page to try and return some of the current haul of lost property to its owners, and the list is as peculiar as you might expect from the legendary boozer, including "Man's brown leather George jacket with nasty snotty hankie... disgusting green NHS polo shirt.... Ricardo's pyjamas. The last item has only been worn once and is looking for a loving home."

City teams show bad form

CITY rivals Hibs and Hearts will be glad to see the back of a lacklustre summer, which officially ended yesterday.

Figures show that while their Old Firm rivals have won all ten of the league games they've played so far this season, the Capital's teams have only had limited away success and haven't won a single home game between them.

Things can only get better in the autumn though, surely?

Students' classy cuisine

WHEN it comes to cooking, most students can manage to cook up something cheap and cheerful.

Now new research has shown that one in five students in the Capital can't even boil an egg.

The survey - which was conducted by a frozen food firm, of course - also revealed that two thirds of Edinburgh's freshers have already turned to a diet of ready meals and takeaways after starting university.