People have always managed to kill or injure themselves in inventive ways, even if the invention was unintended. The link to the attached article on the BBC website gives a few examples from Tudor England - including someone who shot himself in the head with a longbow; someone who was indirectly killed by a maypole and someone who died after their testicles were crushed during 'Christenmas games,' bet that hurt.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13762313

Angharad.

Since some of you liked the other 500 word story I wrote for a local radio competition I suppose I may as well post the second one (the competition allowed 2 entries per person). This isn't a tear jerker but may raise a wry smile.

Love in the slow lane

John self-consciously fingered the red carnation in the buttonhole of his sports jacket. He wasn’t used to it, not sports jackets nor buttonholes nor the flowers that go in them. He searched the tables in the Motorway café. Then he saw her sitting alone reading The Spectator, and walked nervously over.

Completely off-topic, but it may be of interest to Anglophiles...

Google have released a giant update to the UK street view coverage (the panoramic photos taken from Opal Astras with funky camera gear on top), taking it from a few major cities and patchy coverage elsewhere, to (they claim) 96% of UK roads.

Here's a few highlights, (inevitably) from Land's End to John O'Groats, plus a few extra locations thrown in for good measure.

For the first time in 15 years, David Dimbleby, presenter of Question Time, has had to miss recording an episode.

Here's the slightly unsual reason why: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8356943.stm

Then again, the programme itself once featured an unusual guest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8131264.stm

And on hearing the story, I couldn't help but think of the ultimate (fictional - I hope!) sick note (which also serves as a "Don't try this at home!" physics demonstration): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWeXpNyqOrU

Could this be used as a perfect example of "Having a bad day"?
This accident happens in a warehouse in Moscow filled with glass bottles of vodka and cognac...The driver apparently escaped with minor injuries to one of his legs, but the accident apparently cost the owners of the warehouse around  £60,000.

http://tr.im/EeHt ( Discovered via the Radio 4 PM Blog entry here: http://tr.im/EgoL )

Arachnophobes beware! Apparently there are going to be a lot of our 8 legged friends around this autumn (well, in the UK at least)!

Conservationists say there could be more spiders and daddy longlegs than usual this autumn because of favourable breeding conditions. Researchers at insect charity, Buglife, said last year's wet autumn meant the larvae of daddy longlegs had plenty of decaying plant matter to eat. Experts also said this year's temperate summer had been good for spiders.

Something that might interest cyclists and/or fans of EAFOAB...

TV Chef James Martin has apologised for "any offence caused" by a newspaper article he wrote about forcing cyclists off the road as he test drove a car.

I'm not a writer, I should have taken English as a Second Language, or at least Remedial English. If these were offences I'd be on death row!