The Brussels Times noted this week that “a farmer from the Walloon municipality of Erquelinnes has made international headlines after he accidentally moved the French border, making Belgium ever so slightly bigger in the process”.

“The accidental invasion – by around 7.5ft according to reports – came after the farmer decided to move the 150 kg stone marker, his French neighbour told local media.” The Belgian farmer, apparently irritated by the stone in his tractor’s path, had moved it inside French territory.

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We are on a theme here, between Baguetiquette, climbing croissants, and copyrighted caterpillars… Today for your delectation… the story of an unfortunate miller in south-west France who earlier this year reported a surprising theft of 14 tonnes of… bags of flour. Yup, 14 tonnes. Continue reading →

Today’s smile continues our “batch” of cake- and bread-related mirth.

The Spectator mazagine reported:

In news that shook the world of children’s parties, office birthdays, and millennials, Colin the Caterpillar went to war. M&S has filed an intellectual property claim with the High Court against Aldi, in an effort to protect their chocolate-covered swiss roll celebration cake, and demanded that Aldi stop selling their copy cat-erpillar, Cuthbert.

The action has caused quite a stir – there is a hashtag #FreeCuthbert…

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Courtesy of the BBC… and segueing perfectly from last week’s Baguetiquette…

“When animal welfare officers received a report of an unusual animal lurking in a tree in the Polish city of Krakow, they were not sure what to expect. Continue reading →

A terminology-based smile this morning…

Anybody remember that wonderful scene from the animated film Ratatouille with the little crunch of the crust? 😊 Continue reading →

In London, a man has been fined by a local council for his attempts at karaoke. His Saturday night attempts at imitating Abba, Dire Straits, New Order, Kenny Rogers, and Dolly Parton generated 150 complaints.

He was prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act and has been ordered to pay £2,748 in fines plus costs and a victim surcharge.

“I admit I’m no singer but I have a go”, said the man. 😊

Today’s smile is a ‘polite’ one. 😊 

You might imagine that etiquette is a thing of the past. However, it is still going strong, as a way for individuals and businesses to improve social skills, gain a competitive edge or up their game when it comes to cross-cultural entertaining.

In this video, etiquette coach William Hanson from The English Manner gives some suggested tips as to how to effectively video conference from home with colleagues and co-workers.

He works all over the world, including in Europe, America, China, south-east Asia, GCC countries, and Russia, and is a trusted advisor and trainer to many official households, embassies, businesses and academic institutes.

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Some silly humour was needed today, I felt. 😊

It is against the law to have a sleeping donkey in your bathtub after 7 pm.

In Arizona, this law was brought into effect due to a public menace case in 1924. A merchant used to allow his donkey to sleep in a bathtub. The town was flooded when a local dam broke and the donkey was washed a mile down the valley. The donkey survived, but locals spent a lot of time and manpower to save the animal. This law was passed shortly afterwards.

German prosecutors have confiscated over EUR 50 million worth of bitcoin from a fraudster. Just one problem – they can’t unlock the money because he won’t hand over the password.

The man was sent to jail and has since served his prison sentence, maintaining his silence while police made several failed attempts to crack the code to access more than 1,700 bitcoin, said a Bavarian prosecutor. Continue reading →