DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Not one of the participants in the gull screeching contest. PICTURE: Holger Link/Unsplash.
• A seagull’s cry can be a raucous squawk at the best of times so consider the residents of the Belgian town of Adinkerke. They recently hosted the first European Gull Screeching Championship which involves participants attempting to imitate a gull in a bid to win the grand prize of…a basket of beers. Participants reportedly came from across Europe to compete but in the end 31-year-old Reggy Laatsche of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and 21-year-old Bregje Iding from Hasselt in Belgium were declared the winners. Jan Seys, from the Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Flanders Marine Institute), was reported as saying the competition “sounds quite stupid, but it is real science” with gull imitators having to make “nice observations” about the birds in order to successfully imitate them.
• Enjoy binge-watching movies? A US website is offering someone $1,000 to sit and watch all 20 Marvel movies back-to-back in the lead-up to the release of the latest film – Avengers: Endgame on 26th April. The marathon starts with 2008’s Iron Man and runs through to last year’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. CableTV.com says the successful candidate, as well as being a Marvel fan, has to be a “outgoing social media personality” and live-tweet their “MCU marathon experience”. Oh, and you have to be at least 18-years-old and a US citizen (they apologise to Wakanda residents – if you’re a Marvel fan, you get it). Head to www.cabletv.com/blog/marvel-movie-marathon-dream-job/ to apply. Applications close on 15th April.
• Passengers aboard a British Airways plane bound for the German city of Dusseldorf from London on Monday morning were surprised to find the plane landing in Edinburgh instead. No, it wasn’t due to an onboard emergency or anything like that – the airline reportedly said the wrong flight plan had been filed which meant the pilot followed the wrong flight path (for Dusseldorf) and air traffic control didn’t stop them. Having refuelled in Edinburgh, the plane subsequently took off again, this time for its correct destination.
