Talk of the Town: Grubb has his Hans full at long meeting

AS THE boss of the Capital's flagship conference venue, Hans Rissmann is a busy man. So it must have been something of an irritation to him to sit through a meeting of the full council yesterday.

He was there to find out if councillors agreed to allow him to move ahead with appointing a contractor for the massive extension to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Having sat through hours of debate about trams, privatisation and school transport, it was only at 3.50pm that Lord Provost George Grubb put him out of his misery by bringing forward discussion of the EICC plans. But rather than launching a debate, Cllr Grubb merely asked councillors "Is it agreed?" To which came a chorus of "agreed" - and that was the end of the discussion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Rissman, who applauded the decision from the public gallery then promptly left, hopefully thought it was worth the wait.

Costumes crease us up

THE close of the recent Scotland-England cricket match in the Capital was the cue for a good-natured pitch invasion including some members of a colourfully costumed stag party.

This prompted a tannoy announcement possibly unique in the history of the bat and ball game – "Would the banana and gorillas please remove themselves from the playing surface."

Not the best policy

NOT every cat has the smoke-detection skills of the East Lothian moggy that saved its owners' lives last week by waking them up as fire ripped through their cottage

And now the heartwarming tale has been taken up by opportunist pet insurance company Animal Friends Insurance.

With a nod to our report, they are urging loving owners to buy a financial safety net for their ailing pets. But

given that cats have nine lives however, surely insurance is an unnecessary expense.

Chair today, gone tomorrow

THE council may have decided not to show the World Cup on the big screen for fear of trouble from fans, but for peace-loving tennis fans it has been a different matter. And whilst enjoying the action from Wimbledon on the big screen they have managed to prove just how polite they are.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A director's chair was placed under the screen in Festival Square this week as part of a Film Festival promotion. While most of the chairs scattered around the Capital were simply taken away by opportunist residents, the one in Festival Square was put to good use, with one supporter placing it in a prime spot and settling in to enjoy the action from SW19.

For those watching what turned out to be the longest match in Wimbledon history, the chance to sit down was no doubt much appreciated.