DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
The house filled with Christmas trees in Rintein, Germany. PICTURE: Screenshot via Reuters.
• An unassuming house in Rinteln in the north-western German state of Lower Saxony hides a bright and cheerful Yuletide secret. While merely decorated with a simple banner on the outside, the inside of the house finds 555 decorated Christmas trees in all shapes, sizes and colours – a record as the German Institute of Records confirms. Avid Christmas tree collector and owner of the house Thomas Jeromin, finds his collection of hundreds of trees nice and relaxing. “I just like to sit in there and look at it. Otherwise I would have done it like everyone else outside. But I just wanted to have it inside so I could look at it all the time”, he explains. Up from 444 trees in 2021, he is eager to get the number even higher. “I assume there will be more,” he says. “My wife is against it.” 600 trees is Thomas Jeromin’s new goal. At least for this Christmas though, he will have to be satisfied with a mere 555 Christmas trees. – Reuters
Police capture a kangaroo east of Toronto. PICTURE: Courtesy Durham Regional Police
• A kangaroo that escaped its handlers during transport to a new home was captured on Monday east of Toronto after a weekend in the wild, but not before delivering a punch in the face to one of the police officers who brought her run to an end. The female kangaroo hopped over her handlers late on Thursday during a rest stop at the Oshawa Zoo and Fun Farm in Ontario, the park’s supervisor and head keeper, Cameron Preyde, told CBC. Videos emerged on social media on Friday of the marsupial, who was born in captivity, running along roads in Oshawa, a town on Lake Ontario about 60 kilometres east of Toronto. Officers on patrol spotted the kangaroo at around 3am on Monday on a rural property in northern Oshawa, Staff Sergeant Chris Boileau told CBC Toronto. They contacted the kangaroo’s handlers and grabbed it by the tail, as instructed, he said. The kangaroo punched one of the officers in the face during the capture, Boileau said. “It’s something that he and his platoon mates will be remembering for the rest of their careers,” he told CBC Toronto. The kangaroo, which was en route to a zoo in Quebec, received medical treatment and will stay at the Oshawa Zoo for a few days of rest, Preyde said. “We’re going to keep her here for a little while longer, let her rest up and make sure she is safe,” he said. – DOINA CHIACU, Washington DC, US/Reuters
