4,000-mile taxi trip to Greece

http://www.funreports.com/fun/01-06-2007/1517-widow_taxi_greece-0
2007/06/01

A widow aged 89 called a taxi for a 4,000-mile trip to Greece — and paid a Ј2,000 fare.
Kathleen Searles didn’t fancy flying for the dream holiday with friend Wendy Turner, 73, so she booked the cab.
Taxi driver Julian Delefortrie, 63, agreed to the fare of a lifetime and spent three days driving the pals through Europe from Sudbury, Suffolk.
They took the air-conditioned eight-seater Ford Torneo on the ferry to Calais and had overnight stops in Munich and Belgrade before reaching Edessa in Greece.
Kathleen and Wendy spent five days looking at ancient ruins including Alexander the Great’s birthplace at Pella and Aristotle’s School in Naousa.
Cabbie Julian then took a leisurely five days to drive them home, stopping in Belgrade, Budapest, Linz in Austria and Frankfurt.
Kathleen could have paid as little as Ј59 for a budget flight to Greece, but she described her 50p a mile taxi ride as “money well spent”. Kathleen also forked out for the cabbie’s accommodation and food, the Sun reports.
She said: “I am very elderly and I didn’t fancy flying. I am not very keen on airports any more as I don’t like being taken around in a wheelchair.
“I have been in Julian’s taxi on a number of occasions when I have gone to London and I just thought it would be a comfortable way to get to Greece.
“It was also a fantastic way to see lots of beautiful scenery and stop in lots of lovely places on the way there and back. You wouldn’t have been able to do that in a plane.
“I thought it would be very nice just to get in the car at Sudbury outside my own front door and then not have to worry.
“The trip went very well. All the driving was trouble-free and we had some glorious weather. It was a dream come true.”

Did you know...

http://www.funreports.com/fun/11-05-2007/1513-astronauts_toilet_space-0
2007/05/11

Astronauts use different toilet devices to relieve themselves in space

A tour of a space facility in the US apparently prompted Prince Philip to ask how astronauts deal with "natural functions" in space. So how exactly do they go to the toilet?
It's all to do with air flow. On earth, in the West at least, your standard toilet is a water-flush affair, that takes waste and washes it down a pipe.
Space toilets use air flow as water flushes have drawbacks in zero gravity.
Adult nappies are used on space walks and during take-off and landing .
The lack of gravity on the shuttle and the space station mean a water-flush system is not an option. You don't need a particularly vivid imagination to see the potential problems.
Instead, on the shuttle, urine and faeces are carried away by rapid flow of air.
The unisex toilet resembles a conventional loo, but with straps over the feet and bars over the thighs to make sure that the astronauts don't drift off mid-go. The seat is designed so the astronaut's bottom can be perfectly flush to make a good seal.
The good news for fans of convenience is that, on the shuttle at least, urinating standing up is possible. A funnel-on-a-hose contraption is included so that astronauts - both male and female - can urinate standing up. Or sitting down if they prefer. They just attach it to the toilet using a pivoting bracket.
The system separates solid and liquid waste. Solids are compressed and remain on-board to be unloaded after landing. Liquids are released into space. Nasa hopes one day to recycle waste productively.
Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada have said such recycling will be key to tackling any future mission to Mars in order to feed the astronauts.
The air used in the space shuttle's toilet system has to be filtered to get rid of the smell and bacteria before it is returned to the living area.
On the International Space Station, the fundamental principle is similar. The fan-powered air-flow toilet system stores waste. Urine is sucked up and stored in 20 litre containers which are dumped into the Progress resupply craft. The ship is later ejected into the atmosphere, where it burns up , BBC reports.
For solid waste, a plastic bag covered in holes is placed inside the toilet. Air is sucked through the holes so everything ends up in the bag. The elasticised top closes and the bag is pushed into a metal container. A new bag is popped in for the next visitor. Again the waste heads off to Progress.

Woman charged four trillion dollar postage

We are all paying more for postage these days, but one Bartlett woman discovered she had been charged nearly 5 trillion dollars to send a UPSP priority package.Kathy Poletti didn't have any plans to go out of town for the memorial day weekend, and says that's a good thing. On Monday she received an email from her bank stating her accounts had been frozen due to illegal check card activity. "I glanced at it and thought I ought to check it out and see if I see anything unusual," said Poletti.


Woman Charged Four-Trillion-Dollar Postage




Poletti called her bank and listened to an automated recording of her pending transactions ... And that's when she heard something very unusual. The automated voice told her there had been a cheque card purchase for $5.25 cents from the U.S. Postal service along with a 4 trillion, 719 Billion, 449 million, 550,000, 662.000 purchase.Poletti spent much of the morning on the phone with her bank and was assured there was nothing wrong with her account. In fact, they couldn't explain what had happened. "I have no idea where that 4 trillion came from. I would like it deposited in my bank at least some of it," she said.

Curious fox gets head stuck in wheel

They are meant to be among the most cunning of all creatures – but a fox cub was left a bit worse for wear after being outfoxed by a car wheel. The inquisitive creature got stuck fast when he poked his head through the discarded wheel in a back garden. It is thought the cub – nicknamed Dunlop – may have been trapped for hours trying to extricate himself. Fortunately, the terrified 12-week-old was spotted by homeowner Kim Strugnelll, who called in wildlife volunteers. They later returned Dunlop to the garden, where he lives with his parents and five siblings.

Big Bad Biker

…with the emphasis on big

Friday vs. Monday at Work

Ladder Racing!

What a bizarre new sport...

Grandma's Little Girl

What Language

Smoke Signals

At her father's wake, a woman told her priest that ever since she was a child she and her father had discussed life after death. They had agreed that whoever went first would contact the other. They had discussed this again just two weeks before his death.

A few days after his death, the smoke alarm in her garage went off. She had lived there 28 years and it had never gone off before. She couldn't turn it off so she called the security company that installed it.

The next morning the smoke alarm sounded again and the reason finally dawned on her. She said aloud, "Okay, dad, I missed the signal yesterday but I get it now! Thanks for letting me know that you are safe on the other side. Now turn the thing off so I don't have to call the security company again." The alarm fell silent.

She immediately called her priest to tell him the good news. His response: "Dear lady, if every time your father sends you a message he sets off the smoke alarm, just where you think he is calling from?"