DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• Spare a thought for poor Harald the sheep. The mascot of Sweden’s recently re-raised P18 Gotland Regiment, he reportedly recently committed a serious breach of protocol when he bleated in the middle of an address from none other than the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, during the regiment’s rededication ceremony. It is thought his bleat might have been one of approval of the king’s words – he was calling on the soldiers and their co-workers “always to do your best to protect the core values upon which the Swedish nation and its armed forces rest” when he was interrupted. Harald, incidentally, is just the latest in a line of Haralds (there have been four previous) who served with the regiment as mascots between 1979 and 2005 when it was disbanded.
• The White House last week joined in the debate over the ‘Yanny’ or ‘Laurel’ audio clip – the latest viral internet sensation – by releasing a video on the subject. The video has various staff members giving their thoughts on what they hear with Ivanka Trump opting for ‘Laurel’, press secretary Sarah Huckerbee Sanders opting for ‘Yanny’, Vice-President Mike Pence asking who ‘Yanny’ was and President Donald Trump saying: “I hear covfefe”, a reference to the misspelled – and unexplained – word he famously wrote in a tweet last year. At least we now know how to pronounce it. And it’s quite obviously ‘Yanny’.
• Looking for a new home? Fancy a space flight with that? The owner of a New York penthouse has reportedly promised to throw in two seats on a flight to outer space as a sweetener. And, in addition to two seats, valued at $US250,000, on a Virgin Galatic space flight, the owner of the almost 1,400 square metre penthouse at the Atelier building has also offered a number of other “extras” to the prospective buyer including two Rolls Royce Phantoms, a Lamborghini Aventador roadster, a 75 foot long yacht and a summer vacation spot. All for a cool $US85 million.
