DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Pie in the Sky. PICTURE: SentIntoSpace/Twitter
• It’s Word of the Year time and among those announced recently were “post-truth” (Oxford English Dictionary), “surreal” (Merriam-Webster) and “xenophobia” (Dictionary.com). Other words noted by the dictionaries include “bigly” (a truncated version of “big league” which was created when people misheard the next US President Donald Trump ), Brexiteer (a person who is in favour of the United Kingdom withdrawing from the European Union), and coulrophobia (an extreme or irrational fear of clowns).
• Forget the tinsel, this Australian Christmas tree came snake-wrapped. The venomous tiger snake reportedly snuck into a house in Melbourne and wrapped itself around the tree, giving the home-owner something of a shock when they found it. Fortunately professional snake catcher Barry Goldsmith was able to safely remove the snake.
• So it was the World Pie Eating Championships recently and to mark the event, organisers attempted to send a meat and potato pie into space. The pie was attached to a weather balloon and, launched from a pub car park in Wigan in the UK – site of the championship event – it rose some 29 kilometres before coming back to Earth (actually well short of space). Sent for testing, it is believed to have first been frozen as it ascended and then cooked as it descended. And while it didn’t reach space itself, it was still quite a journey for a humble pie. Oh, and reigning champion Martin Appleton-Clare took out his third title in the event, scoffing down his meat and potato pie in just 45.5 seconds.