It’s Friday the 12th of February. Welcome to Porty News.
In case you didn’t know, today is the Chinese New Year (Happy New Year or shin nee-an kwai le with apologies for the pronunciation) and this is the year of the ox. It’s a celebration we’ve been invited to share many times in the past. However, we were rather disturbed to learn that the Police here in Scotland have been increasingly concerned about an increase in anti-Chinese sentiment - and harassment in various forms, so much so that they’ve made a video for the Chinese community here giving advice on, not just reporting any abuse, but also taking steps to protect any Chinese businesses which usually close for an extended period at this time of year. We feel really sad they’ve felt the need to do so!
A final thought about the weather – as the Met Office tells us it’s going to start getting warner within the next few days. It was very cold and frosty again last night – and there are a couple of things you need to remember if going out in your car. Yesterday, we found that our own car was covered in ice and snow which meant clearing all of that from not just the windscreen but the bonnet and roof as well (it’s a legal requirement) as is making sure your windscreen is clear so you can see cyclists and pedestrians. Police Scotland have stopped local drivers and reported them with dangerous driving just because they hadn’t made sure they could see out of the car’s windows!
Finally, it’s Valentine’s Day this weekend and, to mark the occasion, the Porty Playwright, Claire Wood, has come with up a seasonal online play. Her company, Production Lines, will bring you Love Roulette, the story of a gameshow where you get to choose who lives happily ever after. We’ll be hearing more about it on tomorrow’s Porty Podcast, but let’s end today’s bulletin with a word from one of the characters Dion, the nation's favourite host (according to him):
Hmmm. The play Roulette is free but ticketed which you can get from Eventbrite; a link is in the transcript as usual https://bit.ly/3aXt2eg
That’s it from me for today. Have a lovely weekend!