OLYMPIC rowing champion Katherine Grainger from Bearsden is back in training and considering a shot at the 2016 Games in Rio.

We always liked Katherine's tale of congratulating the Queen, pictured with Daniel Craig, on her James Bond sketch at the opening of the London Olympics when there was a reception for the medal winners at Buckingham Palace after the Games. Katherine recalled that the Queen said a lot of people had been commenting on it, but then added with a smile: "Did you see how well my corgis acted?"

Duck and cover

WE think this says something about the Scottish diet. As a reader was at the checkout at her local Morrisons supermarket the operator was having difficulty scanning the duck leg she was buying. Eventually the checkout woman told her: "It's not scanning, so I've just put it through as three Curly Wurlies and a packet of Wrigleys."

Off the road

PRESSURISED job being a bus driver it seems. A pensioner who boarded a bus the other day stuck down her concession card and said she was going to Sauchiehall Street. "You'd be better getting a number five for Sauchiehall Street," said the driver. "But this is a number five," she replied in some confusion. "Is it?" said the driver. "My fault. I don't usually do this run."

Castlemilk tattoo

A READER ponders: "Do you think there are dolphins swimming out there with a picture of a Castlemilk girl in a crop top tattooed on its back?"

City life

A GERMAN youth hostel magazine sent a reporter to Glasgow who reported that the city's taxi drivers are "super fun and charming one-man entertainment" while "the single girls say that Glasgow men are a feast for the eyes," if my friend Google Translate has caught the gist correctly. It was surely unkind of reader Frank Murphy, who spotted the article, to ask if it was in fact one of the other Glasgows in the world the young German had visited.

Good sport

STAND-UP Carly Smallman, who appeared at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, tells us: "Just got stopped and had my shopping checked at the door of a Sports Direct store like I was some sort of shoplifter. Trust me - if I was a thief I'd aim higher."

Football crazy

TIME to return to talking about the fitba. As Oldfirmfacts put on Twitter yesterday: "Tomorrow night's Celtic Hearts game could prove a tricky test for the title favourites. 'We'll definitely take Celtic seriously', says Hearts boss Robbie Neilson."

Hit the roof

WE asked for your West Lothian Questions now that the subject has re-entered the political debate. "When is Linlithgow Palace getting a roof?" asks Jack Irvine.

Boiling over

A COLLEAGUE wanders over to interrupt us with: "The boiler has broken down and we had to get a man out. Quite what he was doing in there, I don't know."