A great-grandmother who decided to try skydiving for the first time aged 89 has described the jump as “a chance of a lifetime”.
Joan Wells, from Dornoch in the Highlands, volunteers for the charity Blythswood Care and put herself forward for the skydive when the opportunity to do an abseil challenge fell through.
The great-grandmother of four, who is believed to be the oldest person in Scotland to have done a skydive, said she took part in the 10,000-foot jump because she had never done one before.
‘Boris should have known better’
Boris Johnson “should have known better” when he gave his wife a “backie” on bicycle, the national cycling charity has said.
The mayor of London has been criticised for peddling his barrister wife Marina Wheeler through the city late at night on a bicycle designed for one person.
Sam Jones, from CTC, said the mayor’s actions were “very naughty” and said “he should have known better”.
Operator warned of cows on track
A rail operator had been warned of cows on the track almost an hour before a train hit two of the stray cattle and derailed.
A driver reported seeing a cow on the line between Wye and hilham in Kent, Network Rail said.
The sighting was investigated, but nothing was found before the collision at around 9.40pm. Sixty-five passengers who were on board at the time were evacuated by emergency services, and no one was injured.
Toilet paper sparks wildfire
A cyclist started a 29-hectare wildfire in southwest Idaho by lighting his toilet paper, according to authorities.
US Bureau of Land Management officials say the cyclist stopped for a toilet break in a ravine in the Boise foothills on Wednesday afternoon. The man then lit the toilet paper but lost control of the embers in the dry grass while trying to extinguish the waste.
Firefighters contained the flames several hours later. Investigators say the man contacted them on Thursday morning and his story matched the evidence found at the scene. Officials say the cyclist will be fined for causing the fire.
Persistent Hemingway lookalike
A white-bearded Florida man has won an Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest on his 15th attempt.
Retired air traffic controller Charlie Boice of Palm Beach Gardens won the competition at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, a favourite venue of the author and journalist when he lived in Key West in the 1930s.
A panel of former contest winners chose Boice, 56, who said he shares Hemingway’s passion for marlin fishing.
Robot hitch-hiking across the US
A robot’s hitch-hiking journey across the US is off to a slow start.
The robot named hitchBOT caught its first ride in Marblehead, Massachusetts, last week, bound for San Francisco, but it still hasn’t left the state. Instead, it has bounced around the Boston area and was briefly taken to sea. On Friday, the humanoid robot took in a Red Sox game.
The robot is immobile and relies on strangers to transport it from place to place. It is the creation of two researchers in Canada who wanted to study how people interact with robots. Previously, hitchBOT took 26 days to travel across Canada.