DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
SCENE OF THE RUCKUS: Downing Street, London. PICTURE: Teresa Lee/www.freeimages.com
• A few weeks ago we mentioned that Larry the Mouser was staying on at 10 Downing Street, the official home of the UK Prime Minister, despite the change of occupant (David Cameron out/Theresa May in). Well, we can further report that apparently Larry, officially Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, has reportedly gotten involved in a bit of biffo with Palmerston, the new Foreign & Commonwealth Office cat, in what was described by a Downing Street photographer as “the worst fight I’ve ever seen”. Anyway, the British Government, looking to put an end to the fighting, has reportedly turned to the world-renowned Battersea Dogs and Cats Home for help (both cats came from the home) and received some timely advice on how to handle things. Lindsey Quinlan, from the home, reportedly said while their ‘catty’ behaviour is not uncommon, “it may be advisable that Larry and Palmerston have temporary restrictions on their outside access to reduce the risk of them meeting”. “They should both be able to roam outside their Westminster homes in their designated areas without meeting each other whilst still being able to fulfil their important mousing duties.” We wait to see how Gladstone, the new Treasury cat, settles in.
PICTURE: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 4.0
• With the world’s attention focused on Rio this week, it’s understandable that you may have overlooked last weekend’s ‘Redneck (Blank)’ games, an event held in the US which was formerly known as the Redneck Olympics but renamed after the real Olympics objected to use of its name. There were no real feats of athletics at the event – the 6th time it’s been held – but plenty of music, barbeque, trucksand plenty of mud as well as events like a wife-carrying race and other events we can’t really go into here. Meanwhile, Russia has held another olympics of sorts – the Tank Biathlon World Championships, taking place as part of the International Military Games. Involving 17 nations, the games see military vehicles navigating their way around a course and firing their cannons at targets.
• A ‘helpful’ vandal has destroyed a 5,000 year-old carving of a skier in Norway, with one local politician describing it as a “national tragedy”. A youth, who has not been named, was visiting what is one of Norway’s most famous historical sites on the island of Tro when they used a sharp object to scratch along the lines of the carving, apparently in an effort to make it clearer to see for visitors. Archaelogists reportedly said the damage was irreversible.
• And this week’s unusual church? The Gothic Revival-style Las Lajas Sanctuary (pictured above) built atop a 130 foot high bridge over a river canyon in Colombia. Built between 1916 and 1949 on what was a popular pilgrimage site, the Roman Catholic church still attracts thousands of pilgrims every year and was made a minor basilica in 1994.
