Budgies, Turtles, Sheds, Bottled water and Prezza

Still haven’t mowed the lawn-too wet, and the forecast isn’t good, so next week maybe.

First up:

Brixham Budgie does a duck.

Cathy Jackman, a scuba diver, was about to dive into the water when she saw the hapless budgie floating on the surface.

She made three passes in her boat to pluck the confused budgie out of the ocean and immediately sailed back to shore and took it to an animal rescue centre.

Officials at the RSPCA say they are "amazed" the animal flew so far and was able to survive let alone be spotted in the middle of the ocean.

The bird, nicknamed Captain, must be a pet because budgies are only found wild in the arid outback of Australia.

Captain is now recovering at the Little Valley Animal Shelter in Exeter, where staff are waiting for the owner of the pet to come forward and collect him.


What a lucky little plucker.

Turtles shut down JFK

NEW YORK (AP) — a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 Turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac.

Grounds crews eventually rounded up the wayward reptiles and deposited them back in the brackish water farther from airport property, but not before the incident disrupted JFK's flight schedule and contributed to delays that reached nearly 1 1/2 hours.

"Apparently, this is something the tower has experienced before," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters. "I guess it's the season for spawning."

The invasion began unfolding, slowly, at around 8:30 a.m., when an American Eagle flight crew reported seeing three turtles while taxiing out for departure. Before long, a chorus of pilots was radioing the tower to report turtles either on the end of a runway that juts out into the water, or approaching on the grass.

The FAA halted flights for about 12 minutes shortly before 9 a.m. while some of the turtles were cleared away, and then quit using the runway entirely after getting new reports of "massive numbers" of turtles on the tarmac, Peters said.

And the best quote:

“Jets hit turtles a few times each year at JFK, usually in the final days of June or earliest days in July, according to the FAA's wildlife strike database. There have been no recent reports of the strikes causing any damage to an airplane.”

That’s unless they are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of course.

But is it art?

An artist who constructed a cabin at the bottom of his garden without any plans has been crowned the winner of this year's Shed of the Year. Steven Harwood won the prestigious accolade after following a vision he had in his head to build a "kite cabin" at his home in Llandysul, near Carmarthen, West Wales.

The building gets its name from the view it presents of local kites which wheel in the sky above while looking for prey in an adjacent field.

The 41-year-old, who runs an online cabinet-making business, spent just £1,500 and three months making the 16ft x 16ft (5m x 5m) hideaway in his spare time.

It comes fully equipped with satellite television, a video, two beds and a compost toilet as well as being furnished and carpeted.

It also has a log burner and insulated walls to ensure guests will not feel the chill in the winter months.

Mr Harwood will get a year's supply of cheese, a £50 garden centre voucher, a cushion and a wind-up radio for winning the competition.

Mr Harwood said "I'm an artist so I suppose I'm quite creative and once I get an idea in my head it stays there."

It’s just a shed for ****’* sake!

Mind you the cheese must be worth a fortune (see yesterdays blog).

Bottled water ban

Way down under in Bundadoon in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales there is a revolution dripping, boasting a population of just 2,000, they voted by a huge majority in favour of the move with a show of hands at a public meeting.

Huw Kingston, a local businessman and organiser, said almost 400 people turned up to the Bundanoon Memorial Hall, with only two casting dissenting votes.

"It was the biggest ever turnout in the community here at Bundanoon – it's overwhelming support,'' he said.”We can now continue with our route of making Bundanoon Australia's first bottled water-free town.

"We can go forward with the strength of the community and the businesses right behind us.''
Shops in the town will now be banned from stocking and selling bottled water and filtered water fountains will be placed on Bundanoon's main street so people can fill their bottles for free. Visitors to the town will also be discouraged, but not banned, from drinking bottled water.

Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport. A New South Wales study found that in 2006, the industry was responsible for releasing 60,000 tonnes of gases blamed for global warming.

Since the announcement that the town was serious about giving up bottled water, the New South Wales state government has jumped on the bandwagon, ordering all state government departments and agencies to use water from the tap instead of buying bottles.


Now there’s an idea: get water from the tap to drink, why didn’t someone think of that sooner.


And finally;

Prezza throws a “wobbler”

John Prescott is to contact police over claims private investigators allegedly working for News of the World reporters intercepted his mobile phone messages.

The Guardian alleges News Group Newspapers paid £1m in out-of-court settlements after its journalists were accused of involvement in phone tapping

Prezza said “"I had no evidence of this, though frankly a lot of the stories in the paper were coming from information that was highly private," he said.”It's quite staggering really."

And writing in his blog, he questioned the role of the News of the World editor at the time, Andy Coulson, who now works as director of communications for Conservative party leader David Cameron. “

I have gained exclusive access to a typical day of prezza phone calls:

1 call to Tony asking what was for lunch at the cabinet meeting.

3 calls to a builders’ merchant, inquiring about “fake” beams and:

14 calls to the local Chinese takeaway, requesting-one number 5, two number 33’s, 1 number 47 and 3 number 22’s (double portions).


And a final call home to ask what was for dinner.



Angus

Angus Dei politico

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE