NEXT month is the 10th anniversary of the death of country singer Johnny Cash, whose appearances always sold out when he came to Scotland.

In fact, he was once presented with a trophy from the Glasgow Apollo to acknowledge record ticket sales. The moment was only slightly dented when the Glasgow hotel Johnny was staying in later phoned the Apollo to say that they had found the trophy when they were cleaning the room after the great man had checked out, and would the Apollo want it back?

Debit debate

TALKING of cash, which we were, sort of, a reader was in a Glasgow bar when a chap was paying his bill for food and drink with a debit card. "Do you do cash back?" he asked. "Yes," said the barmaid.

"Well any chance of getting the fifty quid back I spent here on drink last Friday? The wife went mental when she found out."

First Godfather

OUR mention of Edinburgh's potentially pregnant panda reminds Jackie Kemp of being at the Edinburgh Book Festival when Ruth Wishart introduced First Minister Alex Salmond as godfather to the expected panda cub.

"There does seem to be a bit of a resemblance," says Jackie.

From Bard to verse

WE mentioned the Edinburgh tram operators considering displaying poetry at the tram stops. Russell Smith in Kilbirnie suggests Robert Burns: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley."

However if it is expanded from poetry to music, Russell puts forward Tammy Wynette's country classic - Stand By Your Tram.

Any more?

Dog gone

THE story of Celtic's European opponents Shakhter Karagandy slaughtering a sheep before games reminds Jim Brady of when he worked in Lesotho in Southern Africa, His local football team was nicknamed the dog eaters. It seems the local businessman who owned the side would slaughter a cow to celebrate a victory, but after a string of defeats he threatened to bring them a dog instead.

They were known as the dog eaters, even though they had declined such a repast, ever since.

Simple pleasures

A GLASGOW reader heard a young girl ask her dad what life was like before Facebook and the internet. "In those days," he replied, "you could just forget that someone existed. It was great."

Doctor Wha?

A PIECE of Doctor Who whimsy from Alan McGinley after it was announced that Scots actor Peter Capaldi would be taking over in the police box. Says Alan: "I was winding up my youngest daughter, who is a big Doctor Who fan, by telling her: 'If the new Doctor is Scottish, surely his place of origin would no longer be Gallifrey but Gallimaufry? It was met with a look of disdain."