I was just doing some shopping at Tesco (for the more far flung among us, that’s a Wal-Mart kind of operation I occasionally use) when, just as I was entering the hallowed portal , this lady accosted me with "You're a Scotsman, you'll know."

Taking me by the arm, she dragged me back outside. There was this charity stall selling bits of this and that. Her friend had hold of a framed print of a Victorian painting. It was a wee doggie sitting among some flowers, trying to look cute.

“Is it ‘Grey Friar’s Bobby’?” she asked.

It wasn’t, and so I said so as nicely as I could.

“Oh, never mind, I’ll have it anyway!”

Bet you anything you like when she gets it home, she’ll be telling her hopefully admiring friends “I know it’s right because there was this Scotsman there, and he said it was.”

Maybe I should have fibbed and made her day. It was the only comment of the day, so far, but I thought I'd share this unexpected moment.

Jim