SIDELINES...

DEAD WRONG

Passers-by in Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight, were startled to find a private ambulance parked outside the Co-op funeral home with Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” blasting out through its open door. The driver had stepped into the funeral home to collect bodies for transport, leaving the radio playing in his van when the unfortunate selection came on, prompting someone to film the vehicle and post it on social media. dailymail.co.uk, 9 July 2021.

PERSEVERANCE REWARDED

Civil engineer Will Cutbill, 23, took advantage of lockdown to make a successful attempt on the Guinness World Record for the tallest stack of M&M sweets. After hundreds of tries over two days, Cutbill managed to stack five of the elliptical sweets on top of each other, beating the previous record of four. “I’m buzzing,” he said, “I think six is impossible.” Sun, 3 July 2021.

FLAMIN’ HECK!

Russian hot rod enthusiast Vahan Mikaelyan, already famed on social media for building a car that walks on eight legs, topped this bizarre creation by converting a VAZ-2106 Zhiguli, known in the UK as a Lada 1600, to shoot 20ft (6m) jets of flame from its headlamps. He was planning to hold an event where the vehicle, dubbed “The Dragon”, would set another car on fire. [UPI] 4 Aug 2021.

MANHOLES MISSING

Police in Kent were baffled by the theft of 30 manhole covers from Knoll Lane, Ashford, without anyone noticing. They said: “We would like to hear from anyone who saw people acting suspiciously… they may have had the appearance of highway workers with a vehicle.” Mail on Sunday, 16 May 2021.

SHARK SOUVENIR

After an attack in South Australia that cost Chris Blowes one of his legs and put him in a coma for 10 days, he was exempted from Australia’s strict wildlife laws that prohibit ownership of material from protected species and allowed to keep the tooth that the Great White Shark responsible left wedged in his surfboard.

, 5 May 2021.