Taking the biscuit

SOME people clearly have too much time on their hands.

Scrolling lazily through a popular social media site while watching the Belgium versus Italy match this week, The Bottom Line was alerted to a tweet concerning the hashtag devoted to the big game. Turns out that, in Twitter speak, Belgium versus Italy – BELVITA – shared its name with a popular morning snack. Takes the biscuit, really.

On the record

HATS off to HMV for not taking its spat with Sainsbury’s over who is the biggest vinyl retailer on the high street too seriously.

After the grocer was forced to clarify that it was the biggest vinyl “location” on the high street, not the biggest seller of records by volume, the music chai said: “Not that HMV are blowing their own trumpet, but if you are looking for some Red Hot Chilli Peppers, a Hot Chip, or Black Eyed Peas: the best place to visit is your local record store.

“HMV stocks a huge selection of music on vinyl and CD with artists as diverse as Bread, Marmalade, Bananarama, Hot Chocolate, and The Cranberries.

But the music retailer, which said its market share is four times that of the supermarket giant, did concede that “we don’t sell nearly as many teabags as Sainsbury’s.”

Skydiving surveyor

SURVEYORS are not typically associated with extreme sports. But DM Hall’s Eric Curran is doing his best to change that.

Despite a professed fear of heights, Eric has followed his charity bungee jump from Clydebank’s Titan Crane last year by taking part in a sponsored skydive.

CHAS, the Scottish children’s hospice charity, was once more the beneficiary as Eric made the 10,000 feet jump at the Errol airfield in Perthshire.

“I’m glad to have finally completed the jump,” said, whose efforts helped raised more than £10,000. “I was surprisingly calm beforehand and loved every second of it and would recommend it to anyone.”

We salute you, Eric.

Rise for a rise

BRITONS who get up before 7 am earn more than lie-abeds, a shock survey has revealed.

The average early riser is on £36,500 compared with £21,300 for those who nod off till 7.05 or later.

Only four per cent of Scots get up so horrendously early, apparently, compared with 19 per cent of Londoners (who of course need two hours to get to work). So it seems all we have to do to achieve a 70 per cent rise in our living standards is to get up a bit earlier in the morning – simples!

Jargon alert

THE capacity for the business world to violate the rules of grammar never ceases to amaze.

A new entry appears to have entered the business lexicon light of research from care hire firm Auto Europe, which found that more than one-third of British employees extend business trips into their own personal holidays.

The Bottom Line hopes that "bleisure" one buzz word which does not catch on.