I WRITE as an exiled 'Sintelliner' living in the picturesque village of Brig O'Turk in the heart of the Trossachs.

When recently visiting our local tearooms (its claim to fame is that it was used in the 1959 version of 'The 39 Steps') I got into conversation with a couple of visiting ladies sat at an adjacent table. One of the ladies looked vaguely familiar.

All became apparent when she informed me that, although a Scot by birth, she had lived the last 32 years in St Helens and had worked for that well-known stationer Cecil Dromgoole of Bickerstaffe Street, a company I had dealt with in my previous life as a director of a family business in Eccleston Street.

To Bessie McKeand I send greetings and as they say up here 'lang may your lum reek.'

Like the man said, it's a small world.

Tony Beaman, Brig O'Turk, Trossachs, Perthshire.