QUIRKY WORLD ... Britons told to be nice, not naughty, in Emirates
A social media campaign by British embassy staff in the United Arab Emirates running this week is a play on the classic poem ’T’was the Night Before Christmas, and includes travel advice aimed at keeping unwitting Britons out of trouble.
The rhyme, meant for visitors to Emirati cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, highlights potential cultural pitfalls through the eyes of a fictional traveller, Stu Nicholas.
A festive nugget: “No holding of hands or Christmas kisses; under the mistletoe, despite amorous wishes.”
And also: “So time to go home after several spirits neat; but it’s a crime for Stu to be drunk on the street.”
So time to go home after several spirits neat,
— UK in UAE 🇬🇧🇦🇪 (@ukinuae) December 16, 2014
But it’s a crime for Stu to be drunk on the street.http://t.co/KMst339bRQ #ConsularUKUAE
The UK’s only female giant panda enjoyed an early Christmas treat as she tucked into a festive- themed cake.
Giant panda, Tian Tian enjoys a special Christmas tree shaped panda cake. http://t.co/mvFp4ZIrPY pic.twitter.com/1SO8MU1BRh
— Edinburgh Zoo (@EdinburghZoo) December 17, 2014
Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo baked the special panda cake for their famous resident Tian Tian and crafted it into the shape of a Christmas tree before it was drizzled with honey.
The cake, made using a secret recipe, was then placed on the climbing frame in her outdoor enclosure where it did not take long for her to find it.
A quiet suburb has become something of a Christmas attraction as one house’s festive lights draws in crowds each year.
For Lee and Paul Brailsford, Christmas starts in October as they gear up for their charity light display. The brothers raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity each year and this Christmas have already raised over £22,000 (€27,000).
Lee, 37, and Paul, 35, spend six or seven hours a day each weekend for two months setting up their installation in the run-up to the big event. This year, their December 1 switch-on attracted around 2,000 admirers to Brentry, Bristol, — more than some shopping centres draw for their events.
A generous mystery man has made the festive season a little brighter for employees of two Massachusetts coffee shops.
The man, wearing a cowboy hat, walked into Marylou’s in Hyannis and handed the worker behind the counter 15 envelopes, each containing a crisp $100 bill. Manager Victoria Grandy said “Merry Christmas” was printed in red on the front of each envelope.
Later, a man — believed to be the same person, but this time wearing a baseball cap — handed over eight envelopes containing $100 bills to the workers at the Dunkin’ Donuts in the Cape Cod Mall.
Bart and Lisa Simpson have been in elementary school for 25 years. But that hasn’t stopped them from turning up on college campuses.
TV’s animated smart-mouths are now a teaching tool at colleges across the US.
At Hofstra University on New York’s Long Island, a class examines Broadway musicals, American literature, and other topics using plotlines from The Simpsons.
Hofstra professor Richard Pioreck says using The Simpsons is a way to engage students familiar with the pop culture phenomenon.
Only small fries with that? McDonald’s in Japan is limiting the serving size of fries as stocks run low due to labour disruptions on the US west coast.
McDonald’s said prolonged labour negotiations with port workers have made it difficult to meet demand despite an emergency airlift of 1,000 tonnes of processed potatoes and an extra shipment from the US east coast by sea.
People in Japan consume over 300,000 tonnes of fries a year, mostly at fast-food restaurants, and largely sourced from imports of frozen, processed potatoes from America.
A 52-year-old New York man has returned a marble sculpture he borrowed in the early 1970s to get him through troubled times.
Scott Stewart tells the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester that as a 9-year-old he spent his days at the Rochester Central Library and was allowed to take home art pieces.
In 1971, he borrowed a small statue of an owl protecting its babies because it symbolised his mother’s efforts to care for him and his brother.
He says the statue brought him peace during tough times over the years. Stewart finally returned it on Sunday.
The library didn’t fine the Rochester man.
A Japanese lingerie maker is recalling more than 20,000 brassieres after complaints that underwires suddenly poked out, sometimes while women were wearing them.
Triumph International, which has made a name for itself with concept lingerie such as a solar-powered bra and an “Abenomics” bra said they took the move due to fears of injury.
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