LOTS of folk taking a bit of exercise in the good weather at the weekend. A Whitecraigs reader met a puffed-out pal in Rouken Glen who told him: "I’ve just been for a walk in the park. To be honest, from all the pre-publicity, I thought it was going to be much easier."

MY old Evening Times chum, sports reporter Chick Young, is retiring from BBC Scotland, and children's charity Variety held a dinner in his honour which raised £25,000 - enough to buy one of their famous Sunshine Coaches. Naturally the speakers on the night could not let the occasion pass without having a pop at Chick. As Jimmy Nichol, now Northern Ireland assistant manager, put it: "A lot of people don't give Chick enough credit.

"And rightly so."

Mind you, two chaps paid £3000 to have lunch with Chick and fellow broadcaster Tam Cowan, so Chick must be doing something right.

SANCTUARY Housing, who are taking over the new disused Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow, are advertising for architects to redevelop the building. We remember when the Vicky was still open, and a reader who was patient, told a no-nonsense nurse, that the junior doctor looked a little on the young side. The nurse, not in the least put out by the fact that the junior doctor was standing beside her, replied: "Aye, it's bring-yer-wean-to-work day."

ALAN Cumming, now one of Scotland's most successful actors, told the Edinburgh Book Festival, that although his appearance was a sell-out, it was not always the case. He said when he first came to the Fringe at age 19 there was one night when the sole audience member was a cat who had wandered into the venue. “Going home at night and seeing my face on a flyer with someone’s footprint over it was a salutary lesson in showbiz," he confided.

ALSO at the book festival was record-breaking long distance cyclist Mark Beaumont who revealed that after one of his most dangerous trips, which he survived unscathed, he arrived home and put up a curtain rail - during which he fell over, split his knee open, and had to get stitches. "I’ve now retired on the DIY front,” he added.

AMERICAN band The Hot Seats, a previous winner of a Herald Angel at the Fringe, have been telling fans about the British custom of Bank Holidays. Said the band: "Why exactly do we celebrate bankers getting a holiday? Shouldn’t a bank holiday have some component of men in suits with their heads in the stocks, receiving tomatoes to the face?

"Apparently, a bank holiday is a chance for the entirety of Britain to meet one another while sitting on the motorway. We were tempted at points to get out of our small van and climb into other vehicles around us, just to have different people with whom to speak."

TODAY'S piece of whimsy comes from a reader who says: "Supermarket shoppers. Pretend you’re a pro tennis player by picking up three apples, examining them, and then throwing one away."

ABOUT to be released in Britain next week is a remake of the great film Ben Hur, although it's been a bit of a dud so far in America. As a reader over there tells us: "The original Ben Hur was a mega-hit movie with 11 Oscars. The remake is a box office flop. A clear case of, 'Ben Hur, Done That'."