Hundreds of fans lined the streets of a Dumfriesshire to see Scotland’s first town centre sheep race. Sheep were ridden through the streets of Moffat by custom made knitted jockeys in several heats over the day.
Members of the public were also able to place £1 bets at the event which was won by a sheep named Lingonberry. Organiser Thomas MacDonald said he now hopes to turn the event into an annual competition.
“It is a new event for us in Moffat and we believe it is the first in Scotland to be held on public streets,” he told the BBC. “We hope it will become an annual event, not just one day but extend to two days and eventually make a week long feature of it.”
Giant catfish “burgles” home
A Chinese couple claim their home was ransacked by a fishy intruder – a giant catfish. Xu Xianmin and his wife claim the fish sneaked into their home, in Changji, Xinjiang Province, when their backs were turned.
They thought their one-room home was empty when they locked up to leave for their jobs as sanitation workers at 4am. But when they came back at 9.30am, it had been trashed. They thought they had been burgled until they saw something moving on the floor.
“I thought my home had been ransacked by thieves. The table was turned over, and stacked plastic bottles were everywhere,” said Xu. “When I was picking up things from the other side of the table, I suddenly touched something cold and slippery, and it was moving!”
After asking neighbours for help, they found a huge catfish on the floor. A baffled Xu added: “No thieves would leave a giant fish in the house while stealing nothing. And it’s not possible that someone threw the fish in through the window, as the door and windows were locked.
“All we can imagine is that the catfish somehow sneaked into the house in the time between us opening the door and then leaving for work.” To add to the mystery, the couple’s home lies in a residential area with no river or pond nearby. A local aquatic expert said the catfish was at least three years old and would be able to survive out of water for a relatively long time.
Biker fined for speed camera gestures
A teenage motorcyclist who deliberately set off 26 different speed cameras giving German police the finger in each one has been fined £4,000. Dimitri Salovic, 17, covered up in biking leathers and a full-face helmet, hid his registration number before roaring around Munich at speeds of up to 70mph, a court heard.
Police finally nabbed him when they worked out a pattern to his route and set up an undercover traffic team where they thought he’d strike next. Salovic – whose license was seized after he was given 78 points by magistrates – is facing further charges for driving on a provisional license which only allowed him to use scooters and mopeds.
X-ray of tourist spotted on baggage belt
Airport security guards had a shock – when they spotted the x-ray of a tourist sleeping on a moving baggage belt. A 36-year-old Norwegian tourist reportedly climbed over a check-in desk and fell asleep on the belt that takes luggage to be loaded on to planes.
When the belt started moving, he travelled for around 50m curled up in the feotal position, at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.The unnamed man apparently remained asleep after staff spotted him in their x-ray machine, stopped the belt and alerted police.
The tourist, who appeared to have been drinking heavily, will now face charges in relation to the incident according to Italy’s La Republica newspaper. The incident has raised questions about security at the airport, but a police spokesperson told the paper that the man could not have got through to secure areas of the airport.
“There is a security system – a sort of roll-up blind – which can only be opened by the member of staff who loads the baggage,” the officer said. “The man could have carried on going round the main belt but he could never have ended up in sensitive areas of the airport.”
Post published in: World News