COMEDY writer Phil Differ's show about prison life, Who's Afraid of the Big Bar-L, being performed at Oran Mor during the West End festival, was previewed at Barlinnie, where the prisoners chatted to the performers afterwards.
One prisoner interested in the production was asked if he himself had tried acting. "Yes," he replied. "At Glasgow Sheriff Court. I wasn't very good."
Incidentally, as the play is being performed in Glasgow's West End where some of the harsh prison vocabularly may not be known, producers are debating whether they should have a "signer for the posh" to explain it.
Staple diet
PEOPLE can be a tad harsh at times. A reader in Glasgow heard two women discuss a friend who was struggling keeping her weight under control. "She's had her stomach stapled," one confided. "Stapled to what?" asked her pal. "Greggs?"
Cardinal error
WE asked about tour guides, and Gerry Gill in Kelvindale tells us he was in Sienna, Italy, where the tour guide at the cathedral pointed to a painting of a Cardinal meeting King James V of Scotland in Edinburgh, and added: "Look through the window behind 'is Majesty and you will see the teepical Scottish 'ighland scenery."
Says Gerry: "I looked through said window and saw vineyards, olive groves and poplar trees. It was then I realised that neither the painter nor the tour guide had ever been outside of Tuscany."
Simples souls
CLOSER to home, Ian McLean saw an American couple in Glasgow city centre looking at a poster advertising sightseeing excursions by the company Mercat Tours.
"Arnold, do you want to come and see the meerkats?" one of them asked her partner.
Divine intervention
READER Margie Dobson spotted a car with the number plate "2ERR" and wondered if the family had a second vehicle at home with the registration "24GIV".
Pipe down
TRADITIONAL music group the Tannahill Weavers were playing their hometown of Paisley at the weekend when band member Roy Gullane remarked to the audience that their 32-year-old piper wasn't even born when they released their first album in the 1970s.
"Neither wiz his mammy" shouted someone from the audience, casting aspersions on the good women of Paisley.
It's Gaal talk
DUTCHMAN Luis van Gaal has been appointed manager of Manchester United. A reader down south heard a chap in his local ask: "Do you think his English is good enough to be understood by the players?"
"A lot better than the last two managers," replied a fellow toper.
Positive thinking
A COLLEAGUE wanders over to tell us: "What's so good about England? Well, for a start the flag is a big plus."
Gods and monsters
MOST popular film in the UK last week by far was the monster movie Godzilla.
Jake Lambert explains to us: "His name's actually Zilla. People just thought it was Godzilla because that's what they shout in annoyance when he starts trashing the place."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article