Sideswipe

Lookalikes: Rodney Hide (Act leader and dancer) and the Hood from Thunderbirds (evil puppet genius and nemesis of International Rescue).

The El Bulli restaurant in Barcelona, Spain, has long waiting lists for reservations for its innovative dishes such as strawberry walnut mayonnaise, foie gras ice cream, cocoa butter with crispy ears of rabbit, and Kellogg's Paella (Rice Krispies, shrimp heads and vanilla-flavoured mashed potatoes), says a February report in the Times of London.

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Bob Weston from Onehunga is swanning around Banff National Park in Canada. He writes: "This area is well known for hikers, travellers, skiers etc, and of course many of them hitchhike around the place. As is the norm, they hold little signs showing their desired destination. The first prize for initiative must go to the guy who chose to differentiate himself from the competition by holding a sign that simply said "I've got beer".

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The City of Amsterdam has fined the Bruintjes family the standard dog tax. But the family doesn't have a dog. They just have a doorbell that barks. That's a fact they thought they had communicated to officials last year, after they were similarly fined. They again convinced a city inspector they have no dog. But let's wait and see what happens next year. (Source: reason.com)

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Sideswipe works in mysterious ways. Victim of Bible theft Patrick Whiteman concludes "this column really works". After reporting the theft of a bunch of Bibles out of the back of his car and directing the wrongdoers into the pages of the Good Book, remarkable things have happened. "I have already got eight out of 32 Bibles back," says an incredulous Patrick. "How about a regular Bible text every day in Sideswipe? Just think of the immense good it would do. Am I thinking too optimistically?" (When hell freezes over, maybe.)