Talk of the Town: The lost confessions of a diary keeper

Several A4 posters have appeared on lampposts, postboxes and parking meters on the street, seeking the return of the petrol blue diary, with a picture of a forest on the front.

The posters state: "I am very anxious for its return."

Is the owner worried about their deepest, most personal secrets going astray, or just desperate to recall the date of their next dental appointment?

Cricket allegations are just a load of old rap

CARLTON Cricket Club president Dave Carter has taken badly to suggestions that he bowled wide deliveries in a recent reserve team match.

So much so that in the current climate of high-level match-fixing allegations, Portobello-based Dave has felt it necessary to try to clear his name with a extraordinary rap-style statement on the club's website. It reads:

Is evident, I'm the President

I don't bowl no wides, I ain't that kinda loser

My only beamer is a 6 series cruiser

I's God's gift to cricket man I really look the part

Even though my shoes are from the bargain rail at Primart...

Donald takes his chance

EX-COUNCIL leader Donald Anderson didn't always make the most of the opportunities his job gave him, such as when he turned down the chance to meet the Dalai Lama.

He did press the flesh with two of the three greats he always wanted to meet, Nelson Mandela and Sir David Attenborough, but the third had escaped him - until last week.

Now a consultant, Donald was at Aberdeen Airport when he spotted Billy Connolly. "I went up and said hello," he says. "I couldn't resist it. I have now shaken the hands of my three heroes. I can die a happy man, though hopefully not too soon!"

Dodging a long wet walk

TRANSPORT Minister Stewart Stevenson makes a virtue of travelling by public transport, but during last week's debate on Edinburgh Airport's drop-off charge he acknowledged that taking the bus to catch a plane was not always a viable option.

He told MSPs: "I have gone to the airport by public transport on a number of occasions. I have travelled to it from Linlithgow by bus, which involved being dropped off on the A8 and walking the mile. I do not intend to repeat the experience.

"I did check the weather before choosing that option because I thought that walking a mile in pouring rain would not be much fun."