Talk of the Town: Andrea's not down in the dumps now

IT'S not often council bin men come in for praise but a team in Linlithgow have been hailed as real Christmas heroes.

They came to the aid of Andrea Duncan, 31, who, while dropping off her recycling and rubbish at the Braehead Road dump, accidentally threw her black handbag into one of the cardboard bins.

She did not realise her mistake until she returned home, sparking a frantic call to the dump. Far from giving her a lesson in recycling or a spot fine for dumping a non-cardboard based article, the council team instead scoured CCTV to find out which bin contained the missing bag and then recovered it without a scratch.

No expense spared

THE expense claims in the City Chambers have never really been on the scale of Duck islands and moat cleaning. But inevitably any seemingly extra charge to the taxpayer is met with raised eyebrows and indignation.

So it is heart-warming to note in these times of austerity that for the first six months of the financial year, quite a few of the city council's servants claimed absolutely nothing back for their hard work. Take a bow councillors Jackson, Burns, Cook, Rose, Day, Keir, Mowat, Kate MacKenzie, Hart, Cairns, and Hawkins.

A real shot in the arm

GOOD news for anyone with a fear of needles reaches us from NHS Lothian. The long-awaited result of the "Lothian palliative care syringe pump working group" is to introduce McKinley T34 syringes across the area.

The health board has been trialling a new type of syringe and says it has been succesfsul in easing the pain of patients. We at Talk of the Town will believe it when we feel it.

Something to Bragg about

AFTER Billy Bragg's December gig at Glasgow's Arches had to be cancelled because of the snow, he was determined to make it north of the Border for his Hogmanay Street Party date.

By 5.45pm on Wednesday, the Bard of Barking told his Facebook fans: "Determined not to lose another Scottish gig to the weather, we set out early for Edinburgh this morning and, although delayed at Exeter because of fog, I'm happy to say we are now in Auld Reekie." Top marks for dogged determination - and long-distance driving.

It's snow going

GOOD luck to Sports Minister Shona Robison, who tomorrow is due to take to the slopes of Cairn Gorm Mountain to celebrate the "best ever early start to the Scottish season". That's assuming the roads are open, of course.