Global Oddities

A French village is on the alert after several sightings of a crocodile were reported in a local pond and police and local anglers have joined the hunt for the elusive creature dubbed the “Loch Ness monster of the Vosges.”

Xertigny, a village of some 3,000 inhabitants in the Vosges region in eastern France, has been transfixed by the unexplained sightings and sightseers have regularly gathered by the water’s edge to follow the hunt.

A chicken has been left by the waterside to attract the animal but so far, it has escaped capture and local authorities are considering draining the pool.

“We have been around the pond several times and you can’t really say if anything is there,” said Bruno Aime, vice president of a local anglers’ association, told France Info radio after using a special sonar device to investigate.

“I think it’s carp but it could also be a caiman of about 1.50 meters. The equipment doesn’t let you see the difference between a pike of a meter long and a caiman of 1.50 meters,” he told France Info radio.

Crocodiles are found only in zoos and parks in France.

The local Est Republicain newspaper has covered the chase in a special blog that includes hour-by-hour updates (in French) and footage of the search but the only animal it has caught on film so far is a small mammal resembling a water vole.

Source: Reuters, June 22, 2009

A baby suffering from “incurable” meningitis made a miraculous recovery after her life-support machine was switched off, her mother has revealed.
Grace Vincent was just six weeks old when she was struck down with a rare form of the brain disease and rushed to hospital, where she spent four days in intensive care before her family, from Newcastle, took the agonising decision to switch off the equipment sustaining her tiny heart.
But her parents were stunned when, freed from the tubes, the tiny girl – now nicknamed “Amazing Grace” – began to breathe tentatively on her own.
She is now on her way to recovery and her senses of smell and and touch and her vocal ability are all returning.
Her loved ones know there could still be lasting damage from the bacterial infection Strep B which kills one in eight affected youngsters.
Her mother Emily Ashurst, 26, said Grace was born without complications on April 3. Her partner Pete Vincent, a 26-year-old marine, had just returned from Afghanistan and was settling back to family life when their daughter fell sick.
But on May 16 she was rushed to hospital after Ms Ashurst, a hospital worker at Newcastle General, found her distressed, with the tell-tale purple patches on her skin. Doctors knew immediately her condition was serious and she was diagnosed with an infection of late-onset Strep B (or CBS).
Four days later scans showed Grace had suffered “catastrophic brain damage”. Ms Ashurst said. “It was a bleak picture. The doctors said they’d never seen a girl as poorly as Grace. We came to the decision to switch off the machine on Wednesday. She was baptised on the Tuesday and all the family came to say goodbye.”
But that moment never came. By 4am she was still breathing and giving her mother feeding signals. She willingly took her bottle and fed, confounding medical staff.
Two weeks ago she was transferred to North Tyneside hospital where doctors still expected her to die, as her heart rate was fluctuating wildly, but she was finally discharged on Friday.
Source: Press Association, June 19, 2009

A teenager got the shock of her life when she asked for a few small tattoo stars and awoke to find half her face was covered in them.
Star-struck: Kimberley Vlaeminck contemplates her new look in the mirror
Kimberley Vlaeminck, 18, has begun legal proceedings against the tattoo artist who she claims went way beyond his brief.
The Belgian teen says she woke up in pain after falling asleep as Rouslan Toumaniantz drew the permanent ink designs.
She then discovered 56 “frightening” black stars of different sizes from her nose to ear and brow to chin.
Ms Vlaeminck said she feels devastated.
She said: “I wanted him to tattoo on just three little points but he suggested three stars, saying it would look prettier.
“When he started the tattooing I didn’t want to feel the pain and so I went to sleep. I had got up at five in the morning.”
She told the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: “I woke up when he was starting to tattoo my nose and I saw what he had already done. I counted 56 stars, it’s frightening.”
But Mr Toumaniantz, who works in the town of Courtrai, denied that his client had fallen asleep and said he fulfilled her request.
“She was awake the whole time,” he said. “I don’t use hypnosis or drugs. She agreed to it. The problems started when her father and his friend saw the tattoos.”
He added: “Basically she stood up during the session. She went down on the couch, stood up, looked in the mirror, went down and not only can I say it but I have one witness who saw everything.”
Ms Vlaeminck, from the city of Kortrijk, about 50 miles north-west of Brussels, said she wanted to keep the tattoos on her forehead but would have the rest removed.
She now hopes they can be taken off using laser treatment, which would cost thousands of pounds.
A local prosecutor said Ms Vlaeminck had complained to the police and made allegations of assault and battery.
Source: Skynews online. June16, 2009

A fox has been unmasked as the mystery thief of more than 100 shoes in the small western German town of Foehren, authorities said Friday.

A forest worker stumbled upon shoes strewn near the fox’s den and found a trove of footwear down the hole which had recently been stolen overnight from outside locals’ front doors.

“There was everything from ladies’ shoes to trainers,” said a local police spokesman. “We’ve found between 110 and 120 so far. It seems a vixen stole them for her cubs to play with.”

Although many were missing laces, the shoes were in good condition and their owners were delighted to reclaim them, he said, adding that no reprisals were planned against the culprit.

Source: Reuters, June 12, 2009

A man got the shock of his life when he opened a loaf of bread and found a whole mouse inside.

North Antrim Magistrates Court heard how a man purchased a Hyndman’s malt loaf from a supermarket in the Ballymoney area before Christmas 2007.

When he unwrapped the loaf he discovered the small lifeless mammal embedded in the base of the bread.

The judge fined the company, D Hyndman and Son Ltd, Maghera, £1,000 plus costs for placing unsafe food on the market.

The managing director of the company was present in court to answer the charge.

A defence lawyer told the court that the presence of the mouse was a shock to the company. He suggested it might have been put in the tin to “sabotage” the baker who has been in business for 60 years and has never had any complaints.

The judge was shown pictures of the mouse in the loaf. The court heard that tins in which the bread is baked were oiled the night before they were filled with dough.

Pest control

Some time between the tins being sprayed and being filled, the mouse got into the tin, a prosecuting lawyer said.

“In fairness to the defendant they have engaged pest control services who regularly inspect the premises and did so before this incident,” she said.

The defence lawyer said an “onerous inspection” is held at the bakery every six weeks and that two field biologists attend each year. There are 131 bait stations in the premises at present, he said.

Staff carry out daily inspections and two full-time cleaners are employed at the bakery who both work eight hours per day.

In imposing the fine, the judge said he had considered public concern but also the steps taken by the company to ensure proper hygiene.

Source: BBC news online, June 10, 2009

A car traveling on a motorway in Switzerland lost all four wheels simultaneously, coming to an immediate halt in the middle of the highway, police said on Saturday.

The car had just stopped and the passengers had changed from winter to summer wheels themselves, a common task in Switzerland where there is plenty of snow in winter, but used the wrong nuts when mounting the new set.
“When they then drove back on to the motorway, all of the wheels disconnected,” St Gallen cantonal police said in a statement. “Luckily, no one was injured and no other vehicle was damaged.”
Source: Reuters, June 1, 2009

It may not be immediately obvious to everyone, but one family are convinced they can see the face of Jesus on the lid of a jar of Marmite.
Claire Allen, 36, said she was the first to notice the image on the underside of the lid as she was putting the yeast spread on her son’s toast.
Her husband Gareth, 37, said he could not believe his eyes when he saw it.
Mr Allen, of Ystrad, Rhondda, said: “The kids are still eating it, but we kept the lid.”
He explained: “Claire saw it first and called her dad to come and take a photo of it.
“When I first looked at it I wasn’t sure, but when I moved it away from me it started coming out. I thought yeah, she’s right – that’s the image of Jesus.

Mrs Allen said her 14-year-old son Jamie had also remarked on the likeness.
She told the South Wales Echo: “Straight away Jamie said ‘that looks like God’, and my other boys (Robbie, four, and Tomas, 11) even said they could see a face.
“People might think I’m nuts, but I like to think it’s Jesus looking out for us.
“We’ve had a tough couple of months; my mum’s been really ill and it’s comforting to think that if he is there, he’s watching over us.”

Source: BBC news online: May 28, 2009

Frank and Anita Milford, who live together in a nursing home in Plymouth, Devon, exchanged vows on 26 May, 1928.

Frank is 101 and Anita will be 101 next month. In February they will break the record to become the longest married couple in Britain.

They say they still have little arguments, but will always have a kiss and cuddle before they go to bed.

The pair, who said there was no “magic secret” to a happy marriage, met at a YMCA dance in the St Budeaux area of Plymouth in 1926 and were married two years later at Torpoint register office.

Mr Milford worked at Devonport dockyard until his retirement at the age of 60.

The couple stayed in Plymouth throughout World War II.

During the Blitz they narrowly escaped two bombs, including one which fell on their house.

They have two children, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Their 74-year-old son, also called Frank, said the main secret of his parents’ wedded bliss was simply being happy with each other.

“They’ve enjoyed themselves, enjoyed their lives very much but they’ve been always very content with their lot,” he said.

Source: BBC news online, May 26, 2009

A burglar had to call Dutch police to free him after finding himself trapped in an attempt to break into a school in Amsterdam, police said Wednesday.
The 26-year-old “got into the school through the roof and a small window” on Tuesday night, police spokesman Ebe van der Land told AFP.
“He was unable to leave the same way and found himself trapped in an inner court, his exit blocked by a high gate.
“He said he did not have the strength left to scale the gate, and so called the police.”
Officers freed the man before locking him up.
Source: AFP, May 20, 2009

Ready to flex their pecs and strike a pose, bodybuilders at the Belgian championships scattered when doping officials showed up.
After a spate of positive doping tests in recent years in Belgium, the event had been moved across the Dutch border to Vlissingen for the weekend competition.

“They must have felt safe out there,” doping official Hans Cooman told the Associated Press on Monday.

But Cooman and two colleagues got the necessary papers to check the tournament in the Netherlands. And when they identified themselves just before the event — with the 20 bodybuilders weighing in and preparing themselves — the testers drew quite a response.

The bodybuilders got up and left, preferring to quit rather than submit to doping tests. Some grabbed their gear and headed straight out the door.

“They must have been flabbergasted,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilders usually take months to prepare for such championships, yet the sight of controllers was too much for them.

“I have never seen anything like it and hope never to see anything like it again,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilding has a long history of doping, and Cooman said this latest flap “didn’t do its reputation any good.”

Last year, 22 of 29 tests were positive, either for steroids or for refusing testing, a failure rate of a staggering 75%.

“This was the first time though we turned up in the Netherlands,” Cooman said.

Minutes before the start of the championships, before even one gleaming pose was on display, organizers had no option but to tell a few hundred fans that had come to the Arsenaal theater that there was not point in staying.

Now Cooman and his colleagues will report the case to the disciplinary committee, which will have to decide whether the bodybuilders can be punished because they refused to be tested.

A man who refused to give his name at the NABBA Belgium bodybuilding federation could not explain why the competitors had suddenly rushed off and would not discuss the matter.

Source: AP, May 18, 2009