Shark Snacks

We have always known that sharks were discerning creatures. And also that they’re not that dangerous, really, in the grand scheme of things. The statistic of six (non-violent) fatalities a year in the UK as a direct result of putting socks on first thing in the morning never ceases to amaze. So we were gratified to read of a recent ’happy ending’ story from a surfer in Hawaii, who was sitting on his surf board when a shark came up looking for brunch. To cut a long story short, the shark preferred the taste of the surf board to the surfer . Todd Murashige, 40, the survivor, said ‘He just took a test bite [of my leg] and it wasn’t too good tasting’.

As an aside, according to a recent edition of The Times (see piece about Brussels and iguana below) when Peter Benchley finished his novel Jaws, he couldn’t come up with a title. He asked his dad for help. Dad came up with several suggestions including ‘What’s that Noshing On My Leg?’ Not a Hawaiian shark, obviously

On a more serious note, (and it has to be said that ‘Jaws’, ‘Benchley’ and ‘Spielberg’ are words to be used with extreme caution when engaging in dialogue with marine conservationists, especially if they are bigger than you), several species of shark across the globe are now at risk of extinction. Sharks are not as immediately cute and cuddly as, say, the Giant Panda (but having thought about it, I wouldn’t want to pick a fight with a panda late at night down a dark alley either), so tend not to receive the media attention that they deserve. To find out more about the Bugle mascot and general marine conservation issues online , we suggest that you log on to the www.oceana.org and www.sharkalliance.org websites.

Iguana and Camouflage

Travel broadens the mind, or so they say. And here at the Bugle, as our regular readers will already know, we go to great expense to bring you the real news, as it happens, where it happens (question to all those moral philosophers out there: ‘Is there difference between a ‘lie’ and ‘artistic licence’? Answers on a postcard please, to the usual address. Use of the words ‘Wittgenstein’ and / or ‘zeitgeist’ will result in automatic disqualification. Prize: To be arranged, but probably not Nobel). The internet is all well and good for ‘news and views’, but occasionally you need to touch base, get your hands dirty and smell the print. With this in mind, our dedicated team made a special journey to Zaventem airport to buy a hard copy of ‘The Times International Edition printed in Brussels’ on the 24th September (note to Olympic Airways - more oil on the landing gear would be appreciated, and please stop using welders as in-flight breakfast chefs). Amongst the grim international news and way too many pictures of Gordon Brown at a conference we found a lovely item which essentially goes as follows: Fire crews in Hampshire, UK used a thirty foot ladder (oh, don’t ask for the metric conversion, please) to try and rescue an iguana stuck up a tree. Problem was, once they got up the tree, they found that it wasn’t an iguana at all, but a branch disguised as an iguana. A spokesperson from the fire brigade said “The branch bore a striking resemblance to the animal when seen from the ground”…..

At Casa Bugle Olé the iguana story resulted in an overdose of nostalgia about a trip to South America that was made some years back. Diary entry, 20th December 2002, Cuenca, Ecuador (world heritage university town at the foot of the Andes): ‘After lunch, Gustavo [guide] took us for a walk by the river. Kate was walking ahead with Gustavo, whilst Luc and Marco [Brazilian who made sausages for a living?] were walking behind. Gustavo was pointing out beautiful buildings and we were in general chat mode. Then, suddenly, Marco and Luc shouted in unison. Turned round to see an iguana type reptile bombing its way towards the river. Two seconds later a young man carrying a long pole with a hook at the end came running past us crying ‘Which way did it go?’ [¿Donde esta el iguana?] Gustavo said ‘Oh, yeah, there’s a reptile house near here’ (and there were we thinking that these beasts were native to the parish). Marco waved a fist in the air and cried ‘Libertad!’. The young man was last seen heading out of town at high speed, pursuing what we felt to be a lost cause….’ 28th December 2002, Galapagos, afternoon (after the swimming with sharks episode, more of this in another issue): ‘Main point of the afternoon was to search for land iguana [which are far more difficult to spot than marine iguana] and Luc adopted a special ‘look and walk’ for the enterprise’. Then there’s an asterisk to a footnote which reads: ‘Double barrelled penetration system, which made Luc curious’.