“BOREDOM CAN BE a lethal thing on a small island”, author Christopher Moore once said.
If you’re the kind of person who agrees with him then you’re in exactly the right spot.
There have been enough strange goings-on both at home and abroad this week to blow boredom out the window and DailyEdge.ie has rounded up a selection of them for you.
Because that, as they say, is entertainment.
A man caught with a salmon and a net on a Donegal river told the fisheries protection officers who detained him that he was just holding the items for a “man in a wet suit”. Patrick ‘Paddy’ Mc Menamin said he definitely wasn’t poaching, and that the illegal gill net and small salmon actually belonged to a complete stranger. Judge Paul Kelly told McMenamin – who has two previous convictions for similar offences – that it had been “a very expensive offer of assistance”, fined him €300 and ordered him to pay costs of €350. (Donegal Daily)
Swedish advertisers erected a McDonalds billboard on the Norwegian border to tempt their neighbours to buy a cheaper Big Mac just down the road. The poster, designed by Stockholm advertising agency DDB, reveals that a Swedish Big Mac meal costs about €7 while a Norwegian one costs somewhere in the region of a tenner. That makes Norway’s Big Macs the most expensive in the world. (The Local)
Penguins at Sea Life Centre in the UK had to be given anti-depressants to help them cope with the bad weather. The Humboldt penguins at the Scarborough sanctuary were struggling to keep their spirits up amid the wind and rain, so staff decided to give them medication to help reduce their stress levels. This isn’t the first time the birds have been feeling blue either: They were left traumatised when a trespasser broke into their enclosure and chased them around a few years ago. (The Guardian)
A local council in the UK came under fire for using foul language and images of huge piles of dog mess to encourage irresponsible dog owners to clean up after their pets. Sandwell Council decided to change their approach, making use of the phrase “no sh*t Sherlock” and an image of a dog in a deerstalker. Local Tory Councillor Mavis Hughes was NOT impressed: She said the poster would encourage young children to use “foul language”. (Wolverhampton Express and Star)
A missing cat returned home after three years with a considerably larger waistline after spending his days living in a pie factory. Woosie’s owners were delighted to discover that he’d been living in a pie and pasty plant 30 miles from home. Workers at the factory had adopted the tomcat – who they renamed George – and fed him free pies every day. The fat cat sauntered home to his sofa and settled in in no time at all. “He’s like Lord Muck”, his owners told the Plymouth Herald. (Plymouth Herald)
A Danish amputee was able to experience the sensation of touch again when he was fitted with the first prosthetic arm that allows the wearer to feel what it touches. 36-year-old Dennis Aabo Sørensen – who lost his hand in a fireworks accident 9 years ago – was able to tell the difference between hard, soft, round and square objects, even while wearing a blindfold and earplugs. “It was quite amazing because suddenly I could feel something I had not been feeling for nine years”, he said. (EPFL News)
Pssst. Spotted any wacky news in your local area? Let us know on fiona@dailyedge.ie or below in the comments if you’d like to see your name in lights. It could be you!
