SO Alex Salmond is to step down as First Minister.

As people praise his statesmanlike qualities we are reminded instead of his sense of humour. When he was asked to contribute to a charity joke book to raise funds to combat dementia, Alex told them: "What do you call a man who is nearly home?" The answer being: "Hamish." Well it made us laugh.

Incidentally, we once overheard him on Sunny Govan radio come out with the very true observation: "Surveys abroad frequently throw up two things about Scotland. One, that people actually like us - more than we like ourselves at times. And secondly, they don't know much about us." He then added: "Maybe that's why they like us."

Deadly serious

SCOTT Macintosh muses on the referendum: "My wife texted me on Friday morning to say 'NO has passed 50% - afterlife voted'. I was conjuring up visions of ghostly hands scribing crosses onto ballot papers, when she texted again to apologise for the predictive texting - what she had typed was 'after Fife voted'."

Chip on the shoulder

THE West Lothian Question, made famous by Tam Dalyell asking about Scots MPs voting on English matters, is being talked about again. But as a reader in Winchburgh opines: "The West Lothian question - why is there no decent chip shop in this whole blummin' county?"

Any more West Lothian questions?

Better together

WE hear from an English reader who says: "My Scottish girlfriend has told me that we are breaking up. But I know in a couple of days everything will be back to normal."

Weight for it

REMEMBER the Clydesiders, the volunteers at the Commonwealth Games? One of the them was David Stubley from Prestwick who tells us: "I did the training, started my shifts, was made team leader, and then caught the norovirus. I was recently surveyed on the volunteer experience and was asked whether volunteering had improved my fitness. I answered yes, but did not have the heart to go into detail of how I lost 12 lbs in 10 days."

Tipple tattle

SO now the iPhone 6 is out. A Glasgow reader heard a young fellow at Partick station tell his pal: "I asked my dad what he wanted for his birthday and he had the cheek to say he would be happy getting any Apple product.

"So half a dozen Magners it is then."

Sharp thinking

GREAT to see Winnie Ewing, the grande dame of Scottish politics, being interviewed in Saturday's Herald, and how sharp she still is in her eighties. A reader recalls Winnie once telling him that when she was in the European Parliament she asked Ulster's Ian Paisley if he would like a drink, and teetotal Ian replied: "An orange." The Northern Ireland politician then showed he had a sense of humour by adding with a smile: "A bitter orange."

Holidays of yore

AN observation from Tony Sykes with which we can agree. "Just back from holiday. I seem to remember before WiFi, iPads, iPods and mobile phones that they were more relaxing."