BIT of a jazzer, Leslie Deans. Always frequents the Jazzfest with his lady, Carol. Well, it makes a change from football (former Hearts chairman) and from his legal and property empire.
Portsmouth's Carol's home town and the deal was that if her team reached the English cup final at Wembley, and they did, he'd take her to the brand new stadium.
"Marvellous," froths Leslie. "I've been to the Nou Camp in Barcelona and the Stade Fra
ncais in Paris, and Wembley's got both well beaten. Unfortunately the catering's dreadful."
The lovebirds (they do, invariably, exude the right chemistry) are off on holiday soon. Invariably, the south of France. Seems Leslie already has been taking too much sun. What's his ideal scoreline? Real Madrid 1 Hearts 3. Definitely a case for the funny farm.
Still Jinglin' onTragic, the Weston-super-Mare blaze at the end of the pier. Of more concern, though, to punters at large, the End of the Beer Show.
Pubs are closing in their thousands. Seemingly oblivious to it, one of Edinburgh's great survivors, the Jinglin' Geordie.
The management have just given the outside a lick of paint. The vivid colour, close to turquoise, throws some much-needed light on Fleshmarket Close. Previously maroon.
The Jinglin' of course is a shadow of its old self, a haunt for Evening News and Scotsman journos before they decamped to Holyrood. Alfie's the barbers through the wall from the Jinglin' say the colour makes their customers' hair stand on end. A few steps away, Cafe Marina is coloured green.
On the wind-up Demeaning, says former street-fighter Irvine Welsh. "With violence, like other things, you tend to find your own level, and I was a crap fighter who usually fought other crap fighters. Nonetheless, there's something very demeaning about it and it's never a good idea to give away what makes you angry. It only encourages people to wind you up."
Afterwords . . . . . Are we in danger of drinking too much water?, screamed a headline the other day. In our whisky, yes.
The full article contains 347 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
