DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Overdue books? PICTURE: Kimberly Farmer/Unsplash
• Fines for overdue library books usually amount to a few dollars at most. But one American woman recently paid $US345.14 in fines for an overdue book, setting a new Guinness World Record as she did so even though she never borrowed it in the first place. Emily Canellos-Simms found the book of children’s poems – Days and Deeds – at her mother’s house and discovered that it had been due back at the Kewanee Public Library in Illinois on 19th April, 1955. The fine had accumulated at two cents a day thereafter. It’s apparently not the longest a book has been out before it was returned to a library – a book borrrowed by the first US President, George Washington, wasn’t returned until 221 years later.
• Australia’s Northern Territory held the 2020 Uluru Camel Cup competition on Saturday, going digital for the first time in its nine-year history to play safe despite having no active cases of coronavirus. The main Uluru Camel Cup was won by Lara Billar, a 25-year-old German who has lived in the region for three years. Asked how she spurred on her camel, she responded, “I think my German accent is pretty helpful, because it sounds more scary than the Australian.” Despite the absence of spectators, Saturday’s events included whip cracking and camel poo tossing besides the camel racing, all against the backdrop of Australia’s iconic Uluru rock.
• It was a close encounter he’d probably rather not have had. A Florida man received an alert from his doorbell camera during the early hours one recent morning only to see a sizeable alligator climbing on to his porch bench, apparently eager to investigate a wall plaque featuring images of sea turtles. Crawford Lewis told a local news station that he was glad he hadn’t simply gotten up and answered the door. The alligator, meanwhile, was unsuccessful in its efforts to pull the plaque off the wall but did break a pot-plant before leaving.
– with STEFICA NICOL BIKES, Reuters
