Paws for thought among stars of street and school

The MacNaughties may not be making big bucks any time soon but the young people of Fife have the world at their feet

The week starts with an exhausting shop-tillyou-drop day in Glasgow. Well, someone has to do it. And let’s face it, some stores have a sale on. I don sensible shoes and prepare to do battle. Unfortunately, others seem to have the same idea. The city is heaving. It is hot, hot, hot and as lunchtime beckons a bench in the shade provides welcome relief.

Further along the street a busker is playing the guitar and a harmonica. He is something of a showman. But his four-legged companion is also turning passing heads.

At our talented musician’s side is a rather clever little dog. He is holding his master’s cap in his mouth – and already the thing is full of change.

I think about my own MacNaughties. Could they be potential money-makers? Probably not. The naughty Norfolk would get bored and wander off into the crowd. The Cocker Spaniel would lie down and refuse to soldier.

It takes a particular pooch to perform in public. And it takes a particular person to decide to save a stranger’s life.

Susan Greig lives in Fife and two years ago she donated one of her kidneys to help a very sick little girl.

Now I am told that a healthy person only needs one working kidney. And that more than 400 ailing people in Scotland are waiting for a kidney transplant.

It is still a brave step to be a living donor – and so it is that I am honoured to meet Susan at her workplace in St Andrews.

Susan works at St Leonards, an internationally-known school on the east coast. Founded in 1877 this former girls’ establishment is thought to have been the inspiration for Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers books.

It is where the world’s first female lacrosse matches took place back in Victorian times.

All very jolly hockey sticks. Yet over the years St Leonards has produced a mix of very worthy women: from painters and politicians, to barristers and health reformers, their tenacity was no doubt nurtured on the games field. I imagine few of these formidable females were to be trifled with.

The school now takes boys – who are also going on to make their mark in the world. It is a powerhouse of a place – and I am there to present the year’s prizes. I must also give a speech. Which is nerve-wracking. Young people can be the fiercest of critics.

I talk about the importance of communication. I urge them to do their best in life and follow their dreams. I tell a joke of how in one exam paper a pupil once wrote how Queen Elizabeth 1st “never had any peace of mind because Mary Queen of Scots was always ‘hoovering’ in the background…”

It seems to go down OK. They probably think I am some mad old woman who used to read the news.

On the way home I take in the sea air. The waves are crashing. It beats big-city bargain-hunting…

Susan Greig lives in Fife and two years ago she donated one of her kidneys to help a very sick little girl