Good God

AS others see us. An American journalist, Rick Steves, has written a travel piece for newspapers in Washington State describing Glasgow in glowing terms, saying the "unpretentious friendliness makes connecting with people here a cinch" and describing the accent as "the most entertaining and impenetrable." The best quote was the local who told Rick that he was “British by passport, and Scottish by the grace of God.”

A bit thrown

OOF. A bad result for Rangers at home to Aberdeen in the cup the other night. As a Clydebank Celtic fan emails during the game: "Object thrown on the pitch at Ibrox. Looks like a towel."

Tasty

DUNDEE Council announced yesterday that a new office block overlooking the new V&A Museum in the city is to be named The Earl Grey Building. A Dundonian phones to tell us: "The choice of name is not everyone's cup of tea."

Bombed

HARD to avoid politics. A reader who grew up in the sixties tells us: "The Brexit mess at Westminster makes me nostalgic for the days when all we had to worry about was a nuclear holocaust."

End of her Wick

READER John Gerrard in Glasgow tells us: "The Herald feature on John Buchan reminded me of my Easter Ross granny whose nickname for the long and tedious rail journey from Inverness to Wick and Thurso was The 39 Stops. That was before so many of the stations were closed and she was not far wrong."

Plane fact

WE turn again to American where President Donald Trump, after the Boeing crash in Ethiopia, declared on his Twitter account: "Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better."

TV writer Jess Dweck replied: "Grandpa’s mad at the TV remote for having too many buttons again."

Open and shut

WE asked about comments from grandchildren, and a reader gets in touch: "Please do not print my name as my grandson, now 18, would die of embarrassment and never speak to me again. But picture the scene. We are all in the back garden having tea. Grandson, then aged three, comes to me and says, 'Gran, could you come and shut the gate so that I don't get out on the busy road?'"

In a spin

A READER emails: "My parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas and they said whatever I wanted, they'd make sure I got it. So I asked for a bike. For two years now, I've been waiting. They both kept reassuring me that I'm going to get one but they can't decide what kind of bike. I've heard mum say it's too dangerous and I should only have one with stabilisers, my dad says that's rubbish and she's mollycoddling me. They are up all night arguing about it. When I complain, they say that I had no idea what I was asking for when I asked for a bike, nor how extremely difficult it is to get a bike. They now say that it might not be possible but they are thinking about giving me a second chance to choose my present.

"I hate having politicians for parents."

Outlandish

GOOD to see Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander historical books, receiving a special International Contribution to Scottish Tourism award from VisitScotland because of the thousands of fans who have flocked to Scotland to see where it was filmed. It reminds us of when Outlander star Sam Heughan was quoted in a newspaper as saying he was disappointed the Scottish Parliament was denied a vote on the Brexit negotiations. This was too much for Tory MSP Murdo Fraser who took to social media to ask: "Does anyone know what view Jedward take? Vital that we are told."