A Lymington woman said she was a second away from dying after a tree fell inches in front of her car. Joanne Page, 58, was driving back from the hairdressers when a tree “majestically” fell on Southampton Road. Ms Page told the Daily Echo: “A man was driving behind me when it happened. He said if I was a second faster I would not be here… I was coming back from the hairdressers and that would have been a waste of money.”
Bournemouth Echo (Paul Kelly)
Cuff luck
A couple had to call firefighters after their five-year-old son locked himself in a pair of “adult fun” handcuffs and they couldn’t find the key. The crew used bolt cutters to free the youngster’s ankles in Bristol.
Metro (Allegra Madgwick)
Related
The right sort
Wanted: a rich tenant to take on a struggling stately home in Somerset. “No lefties or Marxists” need apply, says Benjamin Slade, the cash-strapped aristocrat who hopes to find tenants to help pay
the bills while his wedding venue business limps through the pandemic.
The Times (Amanda Welles)
Hang up the claw
A “one in 30 million” orange Canadian lobster has been saved from the pot by a fishmonger and sent to live out its days in an aquarium. The apricot-hued arthropod, which are normally a speckled dark brown colour, was found by Steve Atkinson in a delivery to his shop in Fleetwood. He called Sea Life Blackpool after spotting the crustacean, which “stood out dramatically” in the box.
BBC Lancashire
(Christopher Rossi)
Each printed entry receives a £5 book token. Entries to comp@newstatesman.co.uk or on a postcard to This England.
This article appears in the 14 Oct 2020 issue of the New Statesman, Can Joe Biden save America?