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This is the 'golden mile'. It wasn't very golden when I was there, but it did look quite long. Possibly a mile long.

From Blackpool

Blackpool definitely looks better in black and white. In colour everything looked faded and grim. Monochrome hides that.

Perhaps this is a metaphor for Blackpool's status as yesterday's town.

[from BBC news]
The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding when the flowers caused a plane to crash.

The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported.

However, the flowers were sucked into the plane's engine causing it to catch fire and explode.

The aircraft plunged into a hostel. One passenger on the plane was badly hurt.

But about 50 people who had been in the hostel escaped unscathed, as did the pilot.

The incident happened at Montioni park in Suvereto, near Livorno, where the wedding reception was being held, Corriere della Sera said.

A passenger on the aircraft, named as Isidoro Pensieri, 44, had the job of throwing the bouquet as pilot Luciano Nannelli flew past.

It is believed the bunch of flowers became entangled as it was thrown, and was sucked into one of the engines.

Ms Pensieri suffered multiple fractures and a head injury. She was taken to hospital in Grosseto by helicopter and then transferred to another in Pisa, Italian media reported.

[from El Reg]
A 23-year-old Sussex woman's cunning plan to smuggle cocaine into the UK concealed in the shafts of golf clubs fell apart, when she mistook suspicious customs officials' quizzing about her handicap for a request for information as to whether or not she was disabled.

According to the Sun, Kayti Ella Dryer from Lewes jetted in to Manchester Airport from Jamaica's Montego Bay on 3 April. Despite her claims she'd been on a golfing holiday, she failed to recognise the terms "birdie" and "fairway".

Mike O'Grady of HM Revenue and Customs said: "When Dryer was asked questions about golf, it was clear that she was totally unfamiliar with the game and she had no legitimate reason for travelling with the sports equipment."

An airport source elaborated: "When asked about her handicap, she looked blank and asked them to repeat the question. It appeared as if she thought they were asking her if she had a disability."

Customs operatives found a kilo of Bolivian marching powder - estimated value £83k - inside Dryer's golf clubs. She pleaded guilty to attempted drug smuggling, and was jailed for four years at Manchester Crown Court last Thursday.