Contents
Weird Wildlife
Bonkers as Conkers Again!
Oh yes, it’s that time of year once more. For the benefit of some of our international readers, let us recap from our November 2007 edition. In the autumn, in England, it is conker season. Conkers are the nuts of the horse chestnut tree, and the game / sport of conkers is taken rather seriously in some places. To play the game: Find a good hard conker, drill a hole through it then thread a shoelace or piece of string through the hole, tying knots in both ends so the conker doesn’t slide off. Then find an opponent and start bashing their conker with your conker. The owner of the conker that survives is the winner. Anyway, this year, officials at the International Conkers Tournament at Poulton, Gloucestershire (which will be held on October 2nd) appear to be going to some quite extraordinary lengths to try and clampdown on cheats. Competitors will have to submit their conkers for checking by the organizing committee, and each conker will be marked with a special fluorescent pen (similar to the ones used by police to identify stolen property) and examined under UV light to check that there have been no illegitimate switches during the competition. According to the BBC online conkers will also be given ‘strain tests in vices’ (sounds faintly suspect!) and will be checked to see that no elastic is being used. The organizer of the contest, Phil Heneghan is quoted as saying “It’s truly incredible what lengths some people will go to in their attempts to win the championship”. Our view? It’s also incredible what lengths people will go to in order to try and take the ‘fun’ out of fun….!
Have you Spotted Richard?
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| Spotted Dog |
Many of our readers have probably already seen this story, as it’s been all over the international media like a rash, but we still think it’s worth repeating as a fantastic example of political correctness gone too far. Recently, Flintshire Council, in Wales, UK, caused uproar when they decided to change the name of the traditional pudding ‘Spotted Dick’ to ‘Spotted Richard’ on their canteen menus. For those who are unfamiliar with this delicacy, Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding, which contains raisins or sultanas. The pudding is thought to date back to Victorian times. The ‘spotted’ part of the name refers to the fruit, and the ‘Dick’ part is thought to come from the word dough. So why the name change? Well, apparently, staff made the switch after some ‘immature comments’ made by a few customers at their canteen in Mold (mouldy spotted dick? Now there’s a thought!). On further investigation it turns out that actually only one person made a smutty remark focusing on an alternative meaning for the word ‘Dick’.
One of Flintshire’s councillors — Klaus Armstrong-Braun (a fine Welsh name if ever there was one) criticised the name change as ludicrous, and pointed out that this had made Flintshire a laughing stock all over the world. Happily, by popular demand the name switch has now been reversed. The council’s chief executive Colin Everett clarified the current position as follows: “In full agreement with the catering management Flintshire County Council will observe proper tradition and refer to all dishes by their proper name”. Great to see local government at work….!
Are you Chilly, Willy? And, Appeals for Eels….
Maybe we should have re-titled this page ‘Bits and pieces’ as many of the ‘strange but true’ stories in the international press this month seemed to revolve around the theme of nudity. In Germany plans to open the first official naked ramblers' footpath in the Harz Mountains are meeting opposition. This despite the fact that a sign has been put up alerting people to the nature of the walk. "If you don't want to see people with nothing on then you should refrain from moving on”, the sign says. Campsite manager Heinz Ludwig, who is responsible for the initiative says he’s going to wait for people to ’calm down’ before trying out the path again next year. And in any case, the path is overgrown in places (with brambles? Ouch!) so money is needed to clear it. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, a rambler arrested for baring all justified his actions by telling police that by walking around in the buff he hoped to be able to get more oxygen into his body through his skin. And in Australia, claims that a couple of drunken policemen were seen dancing naked round their patrol car during a stag night are currently being investigated.
Finally, we’re sure it will come as a great relief to many of our readers to learn that due to modern technology, one of nature’s greatest mysteries may soon be solved. The question of what happens to an eel after it leaves a European river has been baffling biologists for many years. European eels are known to end up in the Sargasso sea, where it is thought that they spawn and lay eggs, but up until now scientists have been puzzled as to the route that the eels take. Apparently, once eels leave the rivers they swim too slowly to be able to get to the Sargasso sea in time for the April spawning period.
So how do the eels get there? Bring on a satnav system! Using satellite tags, scientists have now tracked the first part of the long journey of 22 eels that were tagged in 2006 and released into the sea from the West Coast of Ireland. Initial findings are fascinating (if you’re into eels, that is). Eels don’t seem to take the shortest route as the crow flies to get to their destination, but rely on different currents to speed them along their way. So now you know!
