Lowrie

Yis, Neighbours is da best soap on telly. Never mind aa yun depressin Eastenders hellery - watch da antipodean masterpiece instead. Mind you I have ta say dat Corrie can be amusin sometimes. Yun Blanche wife gets some braaly funny lines - but shu'd gie me nightmares if shu wis a real wumman.

Whit towt you o ITV's coverage o BSBs? Haslam should be in the running for crash of the day after his off in Race 1.

Dir should be twartree stories aboot da owld bit o da Courney Hostel. Room C7 wis always cowld an I keen dat wan night da wireless switched itsell on when I wis da only wan in da room.

Port and Blue WKD make up a Shetland Vimto. Very nice it is too.

And what's with those folk who stop at the pelican crossings when the lights are at green thus encouraging confused pedestrians to cross and get run down by drivers using lights correctly!

I think da difference wi a lot o idder countries is dat they start teaching bairns idder languages at a much younger age when dir brains are more 'sponge' lik. Why should da same no be done here?

My grandfaidder hed an 'experience' many years ago whar he met a neighbour an said 'aye, aye' as dey passed only ta fin oot whin he wan hom dat dey'd died earlier dat day. He wisna da kind o fellow dat med a wark aboot onything an he only ever hed a couple o nips at Christmas so drink wisna an issue.

There were 91 (I checked at the door) people at the meeting last night and a large percentage of them made no comment but then in my experience this isn't unusual at meetings in Shetland where the majority tend to sit in silence. I have to say the applause was louder when those 'anti' the venue had made a comment than when those who were 'pro' had spoken. But that's just my opinion. When the issue of the Western Isles venue asking their council for more money after 4 months of operation came up, Davy Gardner said that this had come about because poor consultation at the start had resulted in £75,000 of unexpected costs at the start of the project but that the consultants had learnt from the mistakes made and they wouldn't be made here. Oh how almost everyone laughed. Why anyone should be surprised that the new venue will run at a loss is beyond me. IMO, the figure of £80,000 which has been bandied about is an underestimate. The Arts Trust have organised many events over the years - I'd like to know how many of them have broken even let alone made any money. And they're going to be responsible for running the new venue. I just don't think we need the 'gold-plated' version which is on offer here as I don't think it's sustainable in the long term. I think all the things this new venue is supposed to be going to provide can be achieved for a fraction of the cost using existing facilities. Also, no one has explained to me yet why given the proposed location the concerns which led to the refusal of Shearers Ice Factory becoming a nightclub a few years ago are apparently no longer an issue, when as far as I can see they're as 'relevant' as they were then. As I remember it they were:- 1) drunk people falling into the sea and drowning 2) lack of car parking facilities 3) police concerns about residential and commercial properties in the vicinity and 4) their forces being spread more thinly around the town. At the end of the day the council's funds of money aren't infinite but we continue to spend as if they are.

Hear, hear and well said. The fact that the original costs will apparently come out of a different budget is all just smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned - as is the fact that they should be able to get some external funding for it. At the end of the day the money which is going to have to be paid to staff, maintain and heat the place will presumably come out of the same budget they're trying to cut back on just now.

Worryingly I seem able to recall almost all the words to a Dulux advert from several years ago... may the gloss in Ross be a good gloss may the windowsills of Winchester shine may the doors of Wales dry hard as nails the loos of Lews be fresh and clean may Derbys halls dry even ceilings, cover well, in Motherwell the walls of Birmingham wipe clean of pea and ham and the skirting boards of Fife have a long life so brush in hand decorate this land with-the-best-paint 8O

Someen telt me dat dey actually wanted Iggy Pop ta get it - but he wiz wantin ower muckle money.