And other stories from the stranger side of life
A pensioner’s luck has “finally run out” as his car was stopped and it was discovered he’d been driving without a licence for 50 years, reported Metro. When officers from the Derbyshire Police road policing unit pulled a car over for several offences, they discovered the 69-year-old driver had never passed his test or possessed a driving licence, meaning he had been driving illegally for five decades. The police said “the flaw in his dastardly plan was bragging”.
‘Pa’ is a social signifier
The word you use to refer to your father reveals a lot about your class, claims a Telegraph columnist. Petronella Wyatt wrote that “as a scholar of social codes”, she could “say with some authority that ‘Pa’ or ‘Papa’ is not usually used by people who go to comprehensives”. Her remarks came after Prince William referred to his father, the King, as “Pa” during the coronation concert on Sunday.
‘Mortifying’ pasta dumped in New Jersey
Mystery surrounds a massive dump of pasta in New Jersey, reported NPR. A local resident described the 15 wheelbarrow loads of dumped pasta as “funny and humorous and mortifying”. She added: “It’s funny because it’s pasta and not garbage; it’s humorous because you could make a lot of jokes. ... and then I’m horrified because of course it is a potential contamination.” The city says the police department is looking into who is responsible for the pasta dump.
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