LIVE IT

Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!

Fruit for all

Hundreds of fruit trees are being planted to help tackle climate change, say BBC News.

Gloucestershire Orchard Trust (GOT) has given away 450 trees to individuals and community orchards, free of charge, to replace ones that have been lost to ash dieback disease in recent years. The trust says that, even though the project is in its first year, it is already fully-subscribed. The scheme is part of a Woodland Trust rewilding project to encourage wildlife and give people access to fruit. Martin Hayes of GOT said, “There are lots of different reasons why fruit trees are really good. They have dense foliage, spaces you can walk in quite easily, and you can eat an apple, a cherry or a plum as you go!”

Pub quiz

1. How many permanent teeth does a dog have?

2. What is the most sold flavour of Walker’s crisps?

3. What is the full postcode of the Houses of Parliament?

4. What does the Latin word tempus mean in English?

5. How many chukkers are there in a polo match?

42

Answers:

Life Hack

Want fresh smelling sheets in between washes? Dissolve some Lenor scent boost in warm water and pour the mixture into an old spray bottle and then spray onto your sheets.

Let us know your funny caption ideas by tweeting us @edexec

DID YOU KNOW?

Armadillos swallow air to become buoyant when they swim, according to the Library of Congress. So, when armadillos go swimming, they don’t need a flotation device to keep them from sinking— they are the flotation device!

Bleating heck!

Ewe won’t believe the trouble Wales’ roaming sheep can land themselves in! RSPCA Cymru inspectors have been called out repeatedly over the past year, with sheep common among the rescues, BBC News has reported. In one, inspectors made bleating noises in order to get a ewe to respond so that they could pinpoint its location after it fell and became stuck in brambles by its fleece. Four days earlier, the animal had tumbled about 20m (65ft), and ended up in a tangle but unhurt. RSPCA inspectors had to cut through bracken for over an hour while making bleating noises to encourage it to call back so they could find it on Conwy’s Mynydd y Dref, also known as Conwy Mountain.

“To our relief she replied,” said Insp Andrew Broadbent. “We kept ‘talking’ to her, getting closer and closer all the time and, eventually, found her sheltering on a little ridge surrounded by thick brambles. After cutting her free, and checking for injuries, we then followed the path we had just come down, both of us part carrying, part pushing her back up the mountain so she could re-join her flock.”

Well, knock me down with a feather!

THAT’S BANANAS

As reported by Sky News, a frog that travelled more than 4,000 miles on a bunch of bananas was among the RSPCA’s most ‘weird and wonderful’ animal rescues of 2022. The RSPCA was called in September after a Hispaniolan common tree frog travelled 4,300 miles from the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean to the UK on a bunch of bananas. Iain Holloway, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, said: “We were unpacking the shopping in the kitchen and my wife turned to me and said ‘Look, there’s a frog in the bananas!’ and I said ‘Sorry, there’s a what in the bananas?’”

Rescuer Jonny Wood said the frog was in good condition despite the long journey.