Talk of the Town: JK Rowling creates stir with return to old habits

JK ROWLING'S love affair with the coffee shops of Edinburgh continues.

Having famously penned the Harry Potter books in Nicolson's Cafe on Nicolson Street, she was spotted tapping pensively at her laptop this week at Costa Coffee in Bruntsfield.

Gone are the days that she could work away without a care in the world, however. The Merchiston-based author, whose autograph was last week reported to be worth 1200, had carefully located herself in the corner of the cafe with her back to the wall - so there was no hope of prying eyes spotting her latest work.

Money is the word on Edinburgh's tram

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

KEEN to showcase the positive feedback received from visitors to the tram on Princes Street, TIE has produced a montage of the sorts of words that have been used to describe the vehicle.

The "wordle" features words of varying size, depending on how often they have been used.

Tram bosses will no doubt take comfort from the fact that two of the biggest words are "comfortable" and "spacious".

But look a little harder and you can also see the words "waste" and "money" lurking in there.

No short cut for tortoise

A SHORT walk turned into a month-long 15-mile round trip for Dandy the 59-year-old tortoise.

The tortoise, who was named Dandy by staff at Balerno's Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rehoming Centre, was only yards from his house in Hillview Crescent, near Corstorphine, when he was found wandering the streets by some well-meaning animal lovers on June 23.

He was eventually reunited with his owner Gary Scholes last Saturday - nearly a month after he went for short stroll in nearby Hillview Road.

Ironically, he could probably have walked home quicker.

Pope rap likely to offend?

LOCAL superstar SuBo may be set to sing for His Holiness the Pope when he visits later this year, but it's unlikely the latest song from a local comic will get an airing at the concert.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tommy Mackay has teamed up with satirist Armando Iannucci to produce the rap song entitled Papal Blues. Featuring Iannucci rapping in the style of a "frustrated pope", the song is about a pontiff desperate to give up his vow of celibacy after meeting the girl of his dreams.

The song came about after Mackay contacted Iannucci - creator of The Thick Of It - on Twitter. And he seems unconcerned about any potential papal backlash.

"It may upset a few people, who knows?"