Talk of the Town: Plaque thieves show brass neck

THIEVES have pinched a brass plaque from outside a city firm - just yards away from the First Minister's official residence.

The crooks unscrewed the A4-size brass name plate from the front wall of Thrive for Business, a business-to-business network and even carefully left the screws resting on a window sill.

In recent years, salvage experts have warned that brass ornaments including door knockers and handles have been prised from homes and sold as scrap.

Is nothing sacred?

Chance to pay through the nose for historical book

YOU might think the arrival of the nose-job was a symptom of our era's obsession with looks.

But a book by Edinburgh surgeon John Stevenson has been unearthed which proves otherwise. Stevenson published Surgical Observations on the Restoration of the Nose in 1833. The book, which is up for auction and expected to raise around 3000, describes and illustrates procedures ranging from the removal of nasal polyps to size reductions. But with case studies including a Baron who lost the tip of his nose in a duelling accident, it is truly of its time.

And one other gruesome detail separates Stevenson's work from that of his modern-day equivalents - there is no mention of anaesthetic. Ouch.

Help is just an e-mail away

ACCORDING to details sent to Talk of the Town, 10am on Wednesday is the working week's most stressful point.

But instead of taking it out on colleagues, or even worse, bosses, a company has created a new outlet for stressed-out workers.

The makers of the Rescue Remedy stress medicine has set up an e-mail address, [email protected], offering advice on how to cool off.

That's all well and good, providing a crashed PC isn't the cause of the stress in the first place.

Team soldiers on for charity

HATS off to a team of soldiers who cycled nearly 2000 miles through some of Europe's toughest terrain.

Six soldiers from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), spent two weeks completing the 1750-mile cycle ride, raising 25,000 for four service charities: Help for Heroes, Erskine House, the Royal Regiment of Scotland Association and the Black Watch Association. The challenge began on March 18, crossing Italy, Switzerland, France and the UK and ending in Edinburgh, though safety rules at the Castle meant they had to cross the finishing line on foot.