Sweden's hottest couple
SIXTEEN years ago a Swedish farmer's wife lost her wedding ring after she took it off to do some Christmas baking. She searched her kitchen high and low but it was inexplicably – and upsettingly - gone.
Last week she pulled up some carrots in the vegetable garden and found that one was growing through a ring, embedded in its flesh. Yes, it was her white-gold wedding ring, set with seven small diamonds.
Reconstructing events, Lena Paahlsson and husband Ola believe the ring must have fallen into the kitchen sink and become lost among vegetable peelings. These would either have been turned into compost or fed to the sheep, who would then have converted them into manure. The compost/manure was spread on the vegetable garden.
Against incredible odds, a carrot seed then sprouted through the ring, producing a carrot to be pulled up by Mrs Paahlsson.
I hope the Paahlssons have taken a ticket in the European Lotto. They're hot!
Sound philosophy
READER Betty Aikman joins the discussion of Durban's new street names. In 2008 she visited Russia and on a trip by river from Moscow to St Petersburg,called at a town of 600 000 inhabitants called Yaroslavl, which had been established in 1010. This meant that in 2010 it celebrated one thousand years of existence.
"The guide who took us round insisted that names of streets and so forth were never changed as it was all part of Yaroslavl's history. Good and bad - it happened.
"I thought that quite a practical philosophy."
Absolutely. And the changes in Durban don't just try to deny and escape our history, they actually interfere with the smooth functioning of the city. You can't use the new names to post a letter. If that's not crazy town planning, what is?
Jungle stars
CHEETA, the chimpanzee who starred with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in the early Tarzan movies, has died in Florida at the astonishing age of 80. He died of kidney failure on Christmas Eve at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary, at Palm Harbour.
Cheeta moved to the sanctuary from Weismuller's estate, where he had earlier lived with his co-star. Weismuller himself lived to the age of 79 and Maureen O'Sullivan to an even more impressive 87.
It seems there's a lot to be said for the healthy lifestyle of swinging about the jungle on lianas.
A-a-a-a-yeh-yeh-yeh,yeh-yo-o-o-o-o!
Banana-Sam
MEANWHILE a tiny squirrel monkey named Banana-Sam, who had been stolen from San Francisco Zoo by thieves who had cut through the netting of his enclosure, has been found safe in a nearby park.
Zoo officials had earlier warned that the monkey, who stands at only 30cm in his socks and weighs just under one kilogram, has razor-sharp teeth and is a ferocious biter.
Presumably his captors found him too much to handle. We're not told if human fingers have been found in the park.
Scots wildcats
STILL with wildlife, they're getting a bit worried in Scotland about the well-being of the "highland tiger" – wildcats, whose numbers are believed to have diminished to only about 400 purebred specimens in the wild, partly as a result of in-breeding with domestic cats.
Scientists from Scottish National Heritage are going to a great deal of trouble, setting up cameras at various points to see how the wildcats are faring, especially in the winter snow. In a recent project in Cairngorms National Park they managed to photograph 13 "wild living" cats, of which four were identified as definite purebred wildcats.
The concern is most commendable, especially in a country where they wear the kilt and there's a natural reluctance to step over a wildcat in the dark.
A-a-a-a-yeh-yeh-yeh-yeh –yo-o-o-o-o!
Cordon bleau
MORE culinary delights from the menus of the world:
· Lioness cutlet (Egypt).
· Pork with fresh garbage (Vietnam).
· Roasted duck let loose (Poland).
· Lobster thermos (Egypt).
· Muscles of marines (Egypt).
· Sweat from the trolley (Italy).
· Strawberry crap (Japan).
Bon appetit!
Tailpiece
A MAN GOES into a psychiatrist's rooms. He has a piece of buttered toast on his head, fried eggs on each shoulder, a sausage in his left nostril and a strip of bacon tried to each eyebrow.
Psychiatrist: "Can I help you with anything?"
Man: "Well, I'm really worried about my brother."
Last word
Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet.
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