SIDELINES...

PERFECT!

To report on the recent fuel shortage created by panic buying, the BBC sent a reporter to a petrol station in Stockport, picking the ideal man for the job, Phil McCann. Mail on Sunday, 26 Sept 2021.

A DOG’S GOTTA DO…

Tilly, a border collie/red heeler cross went missing after being thrown from her owner’s car in a road accident. Despite 10 hours of searching, Tilly’s owner Linda Oswald failed to find the dog. Two days later, Tyler, Travis and Zane Potter spotted a strange dog herding sheep on their nearby farm

– it was Tilly doing what came naturally despite never having encountered sheep before. boingboing.net, 10 Jun 2021

SNAKE SURPRISE

A 65-year-old man in Graz, Austria, “felt a nip in the genital area” after sitting on the toilet in his flat. Looking into the pan, he came face to face with a 5ft (1.6m) albino reticulated python which had escaped unnoticed from the flat of the man’s 24-year-old neighbour and made its way through the drains to the toilet. A reptile expert captured and cleaned the snake before returning it to its owner who is now facing possible prosecution for causing bodily harm by negligence. dailyrecord. co.uk, 6 July 2021.

ACID CASUALTIES

Greek Orthodox priest Theofylaktos Kombos, 37, was arrested in Athens after he hurled a bottle of acid over seven bishops. The bishops were conducting a disciplinary hearing to decide if Kombos should be defrocked after he had been discovered with 1.8 grams of cocaine hidden under his cassock “in the area of his genitals”. The bishops, a police officer, a lawyer and another clergyman were rushed to hospital with burns, but all were expected to survive. D.Mail, 25 June 2021.

NOT SO SAFE

Skylah Williams, 10, was taken to hospital after an accident on a zipwire in a playground in Stithians, Cornwall. Hurtling down the wire, she had hit a metal health and safety sign, gashing her thigh. D.Telegraph, 4 Aug 2021.