IT'S not exactly a bucket and spade thing. Not like a day on the sands at Porty. More the thrill of a lifetime. Tom Farmer has taken two of his grandchildren, aged ten and 12, to Beijing.
Sir Tom tells me: "They're thrilled to bits of course. And so am I. A wee bit apprehensive about the air we'll breathe in the city but it's a suck-it-and-see thing, isn't it? I mean we'll not be taking respirators.
"We're away three weeks – I espe
cially want to see the swimming and diving – but it won't all be Olympics. The kids want to fit in sightseeing elsewhere in China. Oh, and I hope to do a wee bit of business while I'm there." As you would, Tom.
And Lady Anne? "Anne's staying home, she has things to do. The kids have promised to send her a card."
Metallica no more Have I been to the revamped North Bridge Brasserie? But of course. My former workplace, isn't it? Brings a tear to the eye every time I'm over the door of the building since its conversion to the Scotsman Hotel.
The brasserie, scene of an unforgettable all-singing, all-dancing farewell party for a retiring old Evening News hack and former front office for the News and Scotsman, has been crying out for a revamp ever since it became a food and wine parlour.
Disastrous from day one then, but the hotel's latest owners have given it overdue care and attention. The metallica mayhem's gone and it now works on a dine-and-wine basis. Check it out.
Cabbage 'n' ribs Seeing the column some days of late has been all vegetables, trees and allotments, an observant reader, having taken my advice and now growing her own rhubarb, wonders if I've gone green. Yes my dear, ideally with white sleeves.
Afterwords . .• . . and, yes, he's talkin' to us. Robert De Niro's saying: "When you make a movie, everyone should leave their own personal problems at home. When they start bringing those to the set, filming can be very difficult. You don't need any extra drama. Put the drama in the story, in the characters." Robert, it's the same in newspapers.
The full article contains 377 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
