SIDELINES...

FLYING FOX

Drivers on the M2 motorway near Bredhurst in Kent were surprised to see a fox sitting on the roof of a red van speeding along at 70mph, seemingly unperturbed by the whole experience. After being alerted by other road users the driver pulled over onto the hard shoulder and helped the animal down. “We were worried because if it jumped into the road there could have been an accident,” said motorist Mithul Santhosh. Metro 19 Oct 2021.

KNITWIT

Bookkeeper David Knight, 54, was initially surprised to get a fine for driving in a bus lane in Bath when he lived 120 miles (190km) away in Dorking and had been nowhere near the city. His van has the personalised registration KN19TER, based on his nickname “Knighter”, but the photographic evidence on the penalty notice showed a woman walking in the bus lane wearing a T-shirt with “KNITTER” printed on the front. D.Mail, 18 Oct 2021.

CURSING CACTUS

A Polish mother living in Taipei, Taiwan, visited a Carrefour supermarket and bought a cute electronic furry cactus that dances while rapping in English, Spanish and Polish, but was shocked when she switched it on. Described as “good for toddlers” the cactus was actually rapping about cocaine and suicide, with a lot of swearing, using a track from Polish rapper Cypis. He was not happy when he discovered that his work had been pirated for use in a musical toy and is suing the manufacturer. The device also caused offence in Canada, where it had been sold in a Walmart in Toronto. taiwannews. com, 4 Jul; toronto.ctvnews.ca, 23 Nov 2021.

TESTING, TESTING

In China it is hard to sell a house where an “unnatural death” has happened because of fears that it might be haunted, and in Hong Kong estate agents are legally required to disclose such events. Now, though, it is possible to hire a “haunted house tester”, someone who, for a fee of 1 Yuan (12p) a minute, will stay in the property for 24 hours alone to verify that there are no ghosts, using video calls to show the client that they are checking every corner of the house. South China Morning Post, 17 Nov 2021.