N is for News

I'd like to make my blog slightly topical - not to say I want to write about the big issues happening in the world, but sometimes the smaller, or weirder, news stories I read online can inspire a blog post. For a while, when I was posting regularly, I did indeed post an 'in the news' topic each week. I wrote about robots and car eyelashes, all the important stories of the week.

I am not an avid news watcher. In fact, the only news I do watch is online. Most days I'll take a look at the BBC website, followed by the Telegraph. I admit that I only read the short interesting stories and often the 'most read' headlines. I love the weird news section on the Telegraph website, and their science stories. They can be much more inspiring and fun to write about than the heavier stories throughout the world.

N is for News

When it comes to reading the news, I stick to a chosen few websites and have my favourite sections to scour too. By no means, do I visit all these news websites every day - I'm not a news junkie. I usually read the BBC new website for the main stories of the day, for local news, sport and the Science and Environment section. The Telegraph website is also a good choice for world news and science, but the best section is the Weird News. You can find all sorts of funny stuff there. I'm not really one for celebrity gossip, but I confess I do often look through the stories on the Femail section of the Mail Online (sshhh) - although I often don't have a clue who they are referring to - Honey Boo Boo, Frankie Essex???? I think it's probably better to be in the dark about most of them.

Today I thought I'd share a couple of the weirder stories that caught my eye. The first one is the rather unsurprising news that men take six months to do 'little jobs' around the house. Apparently, a study by Homebase (a DIY store) found that men regularly put off these little jobs for six months or more either because they don't know how to do them or they lack the time or enthusiasm to do them. The top 5 jobs on our to-do lists are: marked walls, blown light bulbs (I have a few of these - oops), squeaky floorboards, stained carpet and peeling paint. I am definitely guilty myself of putting things off round the house, so I don't think we can only blame men.

The best story by far though was that of Sydney the tortoise, who went missing 10 months ago. His owners spent 2 weeks looking for him last June, and even resorted to calling in a gun dog to sniff him out, all to no avail. But lo and behold, when they started digging up their garden with a JCB for their new extension, there was Sydney laying in a pile of the rubble - alive and well. They think he was so disappointed with the rubbish summer we had last year that he mistook it for winter. I think a lot of us did that. He is absolutely fine and back in his heated vivarium. Phew.

Does anyone else like reading these weirder stories for some light relief? Any suggestions for good websites are more than welcome.

W is for...Weird News

I get really wound up watching the news on TV, as it always feels like they are either catastrophising issues or trying to sway us to one opinion or another by a biased use of the facts. I prefer to read the news on the internet (usually the BBC or Telegraph websites), although I do watch local news which tends to be less irritating. And I have to just mention a particular pet hate of mine, which is the outside broadcast - frequently this will be from outside a victim or suspect's house, a court after hours or somewhere equally unnecessary. Do we really need to hear the news being read from the spot that it happened or from outside a house? No. Does it add anything to the broadcast? No. 

So I read the news online mostly, so I can choose which stories interest me, look up other opinions and compare what different reporters have to say. After skimming through the main headlines and reading any interesting stories, I'll usually have a quick look at the 'weird news' section. If you just need something lighthearted after reading about all the death and despair in the world, then this is the place to head to! For instance, today I read about the Brazilian girl selling most of her 1.6m long hair to get herself out of poverty, about the woman who saved her dog from the claws of an eagle that swooped down to grab it, and that tourism in Kazakhstan has increased tenfold all thanks to Borat! You don't generally get that information on News at 10!