An opera had its world premiere in the lounge carriage of the Aberdeen to London sleeper train on Monday.
It was followed by a statement from the director of the group that arranged for the singer and cellist to perform.
He said the musical trip was “designed to welcome audiences from two of the countries’ most creative cities.”
Why don’t we recognise what others see?
A bid by Aberdeen to become the UK City of Culture in 2025 is in its early stages of preparation.
Two previous and rather pitiful attempts failed, with Hull beating us to the punch for this year’s honour.
Coventry, Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Swansea are contenders for the 2021 title.
But do we in the North-east make enough of what we have given the world of culture?
We ought to be shouting it from the rooftops rather than thinking of it as a potential boost for the local economy.
How many of our children are taught about those wonderful artists Joseph Farquharson, James McBey and Alberto Morrocco, and literary greats like Lord Byron and Lewis Grassic Gibbon?
Are they told about Mary Garden, Annie Lennox and Dame Evelyn Glennie from the world of music?
And doesn’t Aberdeen have a rich folk music and storytelling heritage?
Being the UK City of Culture offers an opportunity for us to dust off the iconic figures and their works and show we are not just a city that gave society granite, fish, textiles and oil, but one that has contributed at a world-class level to the arts.
The bid needs imagination and flair and not just figures on a spreadsheet to show us how much dosh visitors will spend over the course of the four-year stint.
It‘d be sweet if they cut cost of chocolate
A world shortage of cocoa in the past five years has prompted confectioners to make their products smaller.
Terrible news for the sweet toothed among us.
The fair way to deal with this would be to reduce the price of chocolate bars and the like to reflect the shrinkage.
Alas, business is often unfair and – for them – a decrease in prices would be unthinkable.
From furry slippers to jim-jams … how far we’ve come!
I liked the photograph that accompanied the EE feature on memories of the soon-to-be-demolished shops in Aberdeen’s Tillydrone area.
There, pushing a baby buggy, carrying a shopping bag and heading for her groceries in 1969, is a woman all dressed-up for the outdoors – except for her fake-fur-trimmed slippers.
Today, it is not unusual for young women to be seen at their local shop wearing dressing gown and jim-jams.
That’s progress.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.