DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Nato-branded OTAN beer cans by Olaf Brewing Company are pictured in Savonlinna, Finland, on 17th May. PICTURE: Lehtikuva/Soila Puurtinen via Reuters.
• A small Finnish brewery located a few dozen miles from the Russian border has launched a new beer to toast its country’s application to join the NATO military alliance. The lager is called Otan olutta – the first word a play on the French variation of the initials of North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The full name also means “I’ll have some beer” in Finnish. The brew had “a taste of security with a hint of freedom..” Petteri Vanttinen, the chief executive of family-run Olaf Brewing said. He added that while Finland was “under the bear’s arm, no-one was panicking. “We can have a beer now we’ve got this far in the process. I believe it reflects the Finnish mentality quite well that we just keep calm. There is no cause for alarm.” Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO last Wednesday, a decision spurred by their alarm over Russia’s invasion of another neighbour, Ukraine. The blue and white cans match NATO’s colour scheme and show a knight holding up a foaming tankard of beer, with the alliance’s logo stamped on his armour. The brewery is named after the nearby St Olaf’s Castle, a medieval stone fortress founded in 1475 to defend Finland, then a hinterland of the Swedish kingdom, against invaders from the Novgorod republic, a predecessor of modern day Russia. – ANNE KAURENEN, Reuters
• In the latest fashion oddity, luxury brand Balenciaga is marketing sneakers bearing a “full destroyed” look which, despite appearing ruined, have a price tag of $US1,850. The “Paris High Top Sneaker Full Destroyed” are available in black or white that feature slashes and scuffs and have the brand on the side as though handwritten in a marker. The new design has already attracted its fair share of detractors online. One Twitter user described them as “the pair of torn up converse that my ma begged me to throw out when I was in high school” while another suggested the release of the sneakers was a “social experiment”.
British royal family memorabilia collector Jan Hugo stands near a life size figure of Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by her collection that boosts over 10,000 pieces and is Australia’s largest collection of royal memorabilia, in Nulkaba, Australia, on 4th May. PICTURE: Reuters/Stefica Nicol Bikes
• Jan Hugo never realised her childhood dream of becoming a princess so instead she became Australia’s “queen” of royal memorabilia with over 10,000 pieces, a collection she plans to grow as Queen Elizabeth II marks her Platinum Jubilee next month. “Your Majesty, if you’re watching, I hope you have a wonderful celebration for your Jubilee and I hope you have many, many more years as our Queen because we all love you,” Hugo said in her lounge room in Nulkaba, about 120 kilometres north of Sydney. Starting in 1981 with a commemorative coin celebrating the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana, Hugo now boasts the largest royal memorabilia collection in Australia. Queen Elizabeth takes up most of the collection with over 2,500 pieces dedicated to her. “She’s just done a wonderful job. How many people do you know [who have] been in the same job for over 70 years and have had to do some duty every day?” – STEFICA NICOL BIKES, Reuters
