More From the “You Have to be Kidding Me Department”
August 12, 2008 | Uncategorized
Say Two Hail Mary’s and Apply Plenty of SPF 15
Priests and nuns in Catholic churches in some of Italy’s larger cities, seeing their flocks head for the beaches this month, are following suit, in bathing suits.
South of Rome nuns from a convent near Naples have headed off to the beach, spending their time in beach cabins so they can say the rosary with vacationers. According to Father Antonio Rungi, who helped spearhead the initiative, “The concept of a beach-convent is something that is appreciated by vacationers and the nuns themselves.”
On the other side of the Italian peninsula, along the shores of the Adriatic coast, priests have headed to the beach with a 98-foot long inflatable church which will be staffed by priests saying confession. This follows the failure of their blow-up church on the island of Sardinia in July when strong winds nearly transformed it into an ecclesiastical raft.
“Honey, you won’t believe what I brought you home from Hong Kong”
Someone who arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport has apparently picked up quite a souvenir from their trip through customs.
It seems that in the training exercises for their drug-sniffing dogs Japanese customs officials sometimes hide a bag of pot in a training suitcase. It appears, however, that one customs official has been finding the use of a training case just way too much trouble — so he’s been hiding the pot in randomly picked suitcases belonging to passengers. Recently, however, the dog didn’t pick up the scent and the customs officials lost track of the suitcase and the drugs in it.
Tokyo customs officials have asked that anyone who finds the package contact them as soon as possible.
Who says Narita isn’t a fun airport?
Battle of the Beaches
Recently a British vacationer was awarded £750 in compensation after he sued his travel company for sending him to a resort filled with Germans. His complaint — the sun chairs were taken too quickly, there were only German-language television programs on the hotel’s system and personnel at the hotel on the Greek island of Kos only spoke — you guessed it, German.
Striking back, Bild, Germany’s largest-selling newspaper, ran an article quoting a German legal expert as saying that Germans who found themselves in an all-British resort would not be able to take such legal action because of a difference in the laws of the two countries. So to defend the national pride Bild printed a guide as a service to its readers — telling Germans who want holiday abroad where not to go if they want to avoid British tourists.
The verboten British hot spots — the Bay of Palma, in Majorca; San Antonio, in Ibiza; Playa de las Americas, in Tenerife; Ayia Napa, in Cyprus; Faliraki, on the Greek island of Rhodes and Malia in Crete.
The Empire Strikes Back
On a flight from Greece to England two drunken British women went on a rampage on a charter plane after they were denied alcohol by an attendant who deemed them visibly drunk. According to Associated Press one hit a flight attendant with a bottle of vodka and tried to open a cabin door as the aircraft was cruising over Austria at 32,800 feet.
The pilot made an emergency in Frankfurt where the duo was arrested by German police. “Apparently the 26-year-old wanted to catch some fresh air,” a statement said, in an effort to make light of the altercation.
It is rumored they will be sentenced to a week at a hotel on the Greek island of Kos.
In Philly, Flying By the Seat of Your Pants
In case you missed it back in June, two Philadelphia newspapers — the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News – ran false ads for a non-existent airline in an attempt to gauge the power of their print and online advertising. The full- and partial-page ads became quite a story themselves when journalism ethicists loudly complained about the lack of full disclosure on most of the ads.
Despite the criticism, there surely is a copywriter with a smug grin on his or her face. The name of fictitious airline: “Derrie-Air” (think about it for a minute) which was offering fares based on a passenger’s weight. Obviously, with the price of jet fuel today they fly only wide-bodies.
Some Swedes Found It No Small Laughing Matter
A spokesperson for a comedy show on Sweden’s Kanal 5 said they were just trying to be “provocative and entertaining” by making entertainment out of “extreme situations.”
Nevertheless, those folks at Bromma Airport just didn’t think it was really that funny when a team from a Swedish comedy show tried to check in a bag with a dwarf inside. What probably pushed them over the edge was when the dwarf jumped out of the bag at the check-in counter.
It was all being filmed on a hidden camera, of course. The police said the airport staff decided against filing charges even though they were “shocked and humiliated.”
They’ll Learn Not to Make Me Wait Again
It seems that recently a first-class passenger on a Delta flight from New York to Guyana became a bit upset when he saw economy passengers exiting the plane before him. So he did what so many fliers, who have been forced to stand in line waiting to deplane, have secretly wanted to do for years — he yanked open an emergency hatch and slid down the chute.
Apparently neither the Delta crew not the police were amused by the Guyanese man who according to reports appeared to be — surprise! — intoxicated. Although the police arrested the man, he was quickly released on bail. Party-poopers at Delta, however, plan to file charges against him.
Jim Ferri
