I love news.
Good or bad, positive or negative, I can’t get enough politics, sports, feature, crime, lifestyle … any type of news.
It’s a good addiction for this line of work.
The days would be pretty long if you weren’t a news junkie.
One of my guilty pleasures is oddity news — off-beat or unexpected stories from all corners of the earth.
Some of this stuff you just couldn’t make up.
As I sat to write this week’s column, I searched for oddity news and found a few surprises from this past week.
I’m going to share some of them with you, in hopes you’ll email me some of the oddities you discover (address at the end of the column).
Catching my attention Sunday …
Alcohol was (obviously) a factor
According to the Associated Press (AP), police in western Germany freed two men who were entangled with a mannequin and a large, remote-controlled car.
On Saturday after cries from an apartment, police in the city of Mainz discovered a 58-year-old and a 61-year-old “hopelessly locked together.”
The mannequin was reportedly dressed in a knight’s costume. According to police, the younger man was “more than impolite.” He now faces a charge of insulting officers.
The story says the men were too drunk to explain what happened.
Even I would get sick of that much pizza
Still in Germany, the AP says police are investigating ”severe pizza stalking.”
In the town of Dortmund, someone is bombarding a lawyer with pizzas — more than 100 of them.
Police said Wednesday the annoyed barrister pressed charges last month, but he didn’t know who was behind the constant deliveries to his office.
The unknown suspect is now having sushi, sausage and Greek food delivered, too.
“It’s so irritating, I don’t even get my work done anymore,” lawyer Guido Grolle told a local newspaper.
Not exactly the ‘Love Boat’
A South Pacific cruise was interrupted by brawls last week, the AP reports.
Apparently, the fights were caused by a family who threw punches at other passengers on the Carnival Legend.
Many travellers holed up in cabins to escape.
The ship arrived in its home port of Melbourne Saturday.
The family — all 23 of them — was off-loaded in an unscheduled stop the day before.
Police are investigating. The operator is apologizing.
“Very violent, they were fullon attacks,” passenger Lisa Bolitho told reporters.
Explain this one to your partner
A 49-year-old skier whose disappearance sparked a massive search on a New York mountainside was found in California the following week, the AP says.
Constantinos ”Danny” Filippidis — a firefighter from Toronto — was found Tuesday in Sacramento, Ca., 4,000 kilometres west of the New York resort.
He was reportedly confused and still in ski clothes.
Filippidis told investigators he doesn’t know what happened after he was reported missing Feb. 7.
He said he remembered little, but thought he’d suffered a head injury, rode in a “big rigstyle truck” and slept “a lot,” according to the Poststandard newspaper in Syracuse.
“At this point, we want to assist Danny in getting back the last six days of his life,” New York State Police Maj. John Tibbitts was quoted as saying.
Steve Bartlett is an editor with Saltwire Network. He dives into the Deep End Mondays. Share your oddities with him at [email protected].
