February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
Courtroom rascals
Wicklow’s court system was overrun recently by a nasty menace — rodents.
A recent court hearing was abandoned when mice invaded the courtroom, one of the blighters even crawled up the witness’s trouser leg and into his pocket as he tried to give evidence, reports the Wicklow People.
Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla wisely tucked his trousers into his socks to prevent any unwelcome visitors gaining access to his pockets.
Despite gardai efforts, the judge called a short adjournment to allow a mouse hunt to take place. But the pests reappeared when the court resumed its business and they caused panic at the back of the public gallery.
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It all seemed a little suspicious to some. Supt. Pat Flynn, who was prosecuting the case, said that he had not seen anything like it in 26 years in legal circles.
Asked if he suspected that the appearance of the mice was more than just coincidence, Flynn told the paper: "They did not walk in of their own accord." Gardai would be conducting inquiries.
Sex between the slices
In one of the strangest questions to appear in a survey about fast food, a poll has found that Blanchardstown sandwich eaters have more sex than the national average.
Sandwich eaters from the Dublin area make love more than 10 times a week, according to the survey, which was reported in the Northside People newspaper
The survey was recently conducted on behalf of O’Brien’s Sandwich Bars and polled 39 of the Irish and British sandwich stores.
At the company’s Blanchardstown Center, the poll showed that 85 percent of its customers admitted to making love more than 10 times per week. That’s above the global average of 98 times a year, according to a recent study.
Of course, the experts were quick to give an opinion why. Dr. Rogers, head of psychobiology at the Institute of Food Research, claimed that bread stimulates pleasure centers in the brain.
The company, O’Brien’s, pointed out that they are famous for their thick bread sandwiches and could be providing Blanchardstown with certain ingredients to enhance their libidos.
As the People newspaper notes — "Make mine a triple decker with extra mayonnaise!"
Pheasant garden
Michael Kelly knows a few things about gardening.
The Longford man works hard in his vegetable garden in the scenic town of Knappogue on the banks of the Shannon.
But when he grew a monster cabbage, which measures 5 feet, 5 inches in diameter, people started asking questions about his methods.
The Longford Leader reports Kelly has a special secret — sprinkling his garden liberally with pheasant droppings for fertilizer.
"Long ago they used to have a great belief in using the droppings of hens and chickens because it was full of nitrogen and they would use it to grow big onions and vegetables," Kelly said.
He decided to try using pheasant droppings. And the result his massive vegetable.
Kelly grew the cabbage from a seed 15 months ago in August last year. He brought it into the greenhouse for the winter and transplanted it again toward the end of March. And it just kept growing.
"Nothing like it was ever seen around here before," Kelly said.
Goat’s play
Ireland’s national weather center the Met Office works hard to predict and map the changes in the nation’s climate.
But, according to the Clare Champion, there are often more reliable ways of forecasting rain or shine.
Recently, the paper reported, the Met Office missed its forecast, but a Burren goat herd got it right.
The sight of a 300-strong Burren goat herd sheltering at the rear of the Holy Well Language Center in the County’s Ballyvaughan alerted locals to the prospect of bad weather over that weekend. The ensuing deluge caused serious flooding in the Burren Valley. Traffic was disrupted over the weekend and numerous vehicles got stuck in the flood water.