Talk of the Town: Having a (big) ball ahead of Olympics

THE sight of an eight-foot hockey ball rolling through the streets of the Capital is sure to raise a few eyebrows.

It’s being “dribbled” across Britain as part of an event to promote the Olympics.

A host of events will take place to celebrate its arrival in Festival Square at 9.30am on April 15.

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Having watched a bit of hockey, we reckon they might have to make the goals a bit bigger too.

There’s no mystery behind Regent’s latest award

WE should all be raising our glasses to The Regent Bar.

The Abbeyhill boozer, a well-known venue amongst the city’s gay and lesbian community, has a shiny new award to place behind the bar – for achieving an excellent standard of service in a national mystery customer scheme.

The bar, we’re told, is one of the first in the UK to pick up the prestigious prize in a contest run by Punch Taverns . . . which just happens to lease out the Regent.

Uncover city’s wild side

THEY’RE commonly thought of as a nuisance, or worse, but now one charity wants us to learn how to connect with them.

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As it launches its tenth annual Living with Mammals Survey, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling for Capital residents to sort the facts from the myths and rethink our attitudes to the rats, foxes and squirrels they encounter in the city.

Rather than run away, PTES wants us to observe the beasts of the wild which have chosen to make our streets their home. Participants will spend at least eight weeks studying a chosen site and learning about how cities provide important habitats.

Visit www.ptes.org/surveys to sign up – if you dare.

Whether or not the creatures concerned then study our habitats on a sort of exchange programme remains to be seen.

Cashing out

IT’S a cash crisis. The Capital’s millionaires are apparently so disgruntled with the government’s economic policies, they’re considering moving abroad.

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According to research from investment specialist Skandia, half of the city’s richest people are looking to France, the USA, Spain and Australia as they try to protect their hard-earned lolly.

High taxation and the desire for a better standard of living, in addition to escaping the Scottish weather, are also listed as reasons. It’s been billed as the “wealth drain”.

So perhaps we’re all it together – but sadly, unlike the moneybags, we can’t all get out of it so easily.