DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
From a reward poster published on the swimming club’s Facebook page.
• When a giant yellow inflatable duck went missing earlier this month, it probably didn’t seem like it would be that hard to find. ‘Daphne’ disappeared in the early hours of 11th March after she was carried away into the Indian Ocean by strong winds from outside the Cockburn Masters Swimming Club in the Australian city of Perth. The club, which had purchased the duck to mark the 22nd anniversary of an annual ocean swimming competition to be held later than day, put out a call for help but it seemed for a while that all was lost with no word of where she’d disappeared to. Until, almost a week later, that is, when the duck was found in fisherman Toby Gibb’s posession. He reportedly said that he’d found the duck about 30 kilometres out to sea near Rottnest Island only about an hour after it had broken from its moorings but didn’t know to whom it belonged and had taken it back to his Perth house. He’d since been out of state and only on his return was the connection put together. Happily, the duck and its owners were expected to be reunited this week.
• Thor, Hero, Rainbow and Ultra-Violet. No, they’re not superheroes out of the latest Marvel film (although that may be part of the inspiration for them), they’re among the more than 52,000 names given to babies born in Scotland in 2017. The Scotsman reports that while Jack and Olivia were the most popular names, others – like Oak, Little-One and Vogue – were more of a one off. The list also saw a record low number of babies being given the name Donald – just 10. We won’t make any comment about what influence a certain US President may have had on that.
• A hippo dubbed Tyson has been captured in Mexico after 10 days on the run – with speculation that it may have been imported by a drug baron. Authorities are baffled as to where the 600 kilogram Nile hippo, which mysteriously showed up 10 days ago in the eastern state of Veracruz, came from and were worried that the giant beast could injure someone. A special operation was launched to capture it and Tyson has now been taken to a wildlife refuge. Colombian drug big wig Pablo Escobar famously once had a herd of hippos who are now loose in the countryside around what was his home and it’s been speculated a Mexican drug baron may have had the same idea.
