DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• A Belgian town has defied an egg contamination scare to uphold its annual tradition of cooking a four metre wide, 10,000 egg omelette. The predominantly French-speaking town of Malmedy in the country’s south-east has been making the giant omelette for the past 22 years and the local branch of the giant omelette fraternity (yes, that’s right – giant omelette fraternity) decided to go ahead this year despite millions of eggs being pulled from supermarket shelves in Europe thanks to a scare over the use of a banned insecticide. The tradition of cooking a giant omelette has reportedly spread to various towns in countries including France, New Caledonia, the US and Canada.
• Hundreds of giant yellow Pikachu were spotted on the streets of the Japanese city of Yokohama recently in celebration of a week-long Pokemon-inspired week known as ‘Pikachu Outbreak‘. More than 100 Pikachu took part in the main parade on Monday while a series of smaller parades were also held last week and a massive, 17 metre long Pikachu blimp could be seen over the city. There were also a series of special events for fans of Pokemon Go including a specially designed park in which players could play the game.
• An enterprising Londoner is turning a three metre wide alleyway between two buildings into a four storey luxury home that reportedly could be worth as much as £2.7 million. The property on Euston Road in Fitzrovia will feature three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a ground floor courtyard and a roof terrace. The house won’t be the thinnest in London – that honour goes to a 2.1 metre wide home in Knightsbridge while the narrowest home in the UK is apparently on the Scottish island of Great Cumbrae and measures just 93 centimetres wide at the front.