SIDELINES...

OWL RESCUE

An eagle owl trapped in a well at a ruined castle in northern Germany was rescued after a local resident heard distressed hooting noises. After failing to lure the owl into a sack with bait, rescuers abseiled down the 40m- (131ft) deep well, as the Bad Segeberg fire service pumped oxygen into the shaft. The young owl is now in safe care at a local bat sanctuary. BBC News, 27 July 2020.

LONG COVID

Suzy Klein, BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics presenter, says she is making mistakes because long Covid left her with “brain fog”. “Carmen’s ‘zesty gipsies’ became ‘chesty zipsies’. Tchaikovsky came out sounding more like ‘Shislovsky’”. D.Telegraph, 26 Jan 2021.

TAKEOUT’S BUM DEAL

A takeaway restaurant was ridiculed after a punctuation error left it named “Anus Kitchen” on flyers. The leaflets were to advertise Anu’s Indian restaurant in Dulwich, south London. Sun, 20 Nov 2020.

JUGGLING WITH DEATH

A fatal police shooting of a popular street juggler led to the destruction of several public buildings in the southern Chilean city of Panguipulli, where angry rioters burned down a municipal government building, the post office, the civil registry, a local court, a water management company and others. The shooting occurred after the entertainer allegedly refused to provide identification to a police officer as he performed at a busy city intersection. The destruction left the city of 34,000 people practically without public services. nytimes.com, 6 Feb 2021.