Talk of the Town: Where there's a will there's a way

THE Big Freeze has been causing travel chaos, but there was one actor who was determined it wouldn't stop him getting to the Capital - whatever the cost.

Danish star Casper Phillipson, appearing in The Secret Garden at the Festival Theatre, was flying in for rehearsals on Monday when his flight from Copenhagen was cancelled. Rather than admit defeat, he flew to London's City Airport planning to get a train, only to be faced with a tube strike. Still undeterred, he got a taxi to Euston for the sleeper, but arrived to find reservations for the train were closed. He refused to give up however and sat in Euston for four hours before a guard sold him a ticket for the sleeper to Glasgow.

From there he got an early train to Edinburgh which got him to rehearsals right on time.

Weather updates spark vidiprinter nostalgia

EVERY fan of football is at least a tad nostalgic about the days when the BBC had their vidiprinter, and the scores used to scroll across the screen during Grandstand.

Of particular excitement was if your team had scored such a large number of goals that they needed to write out the number in letters afterwards in case viewers could not believe their eyes.

It seems that Dave Anderson, the city council's director of city development, is among those who long for the days of the vidiprinter.

When discussing the council's new Twitter feed giving weather updates - including one day which had 18 (eighteen) reports - Mr Anderson said: "It was like the football updates coming through."

Tories fit in at 'pre-buttal'

TOP Scottish Conservatives Annabel Goldie and David McLetchie had to run the gauntlet of protesting students as they arrived at the Assembly Hall on The Mound for the launch of the Scotland Bill this week.

Ironically, they might have felt more at home at Alex Salmond's press conference, a "pre-buttal" of the Bill, at Bute House, where a screen was set up to illustrate the economic effects of the proposals.

Parked outside was the van of a multi-media production company, Cameron Presentations.

City top for DIY Christmas

THE crunch has led more and more people to plan a DIY Xmas - and Edinburgh has come out top in a survey of UK cities partly turning their backs on expensive trappings.

Okay, it's not going to be a kit Tag Heuer watch or a flatpack Call Of Duty game, but homemade cards, decorations, food and small presents are on the up.

As for Edinburgh's place at the top of the Christmas tree - it can't be a Scots thrift thing because Aberdeen, with a reputation far beyond these shores for long pockets, comes way down the list.