Friday, February 25, 2011
Are lake-monster claims just silly ness?
Everyone’s heard of the Lock Ness Monster (pictured), but any young drivers up for a road trip and an adventure might want to check out England’s newest unidentified creature – Bownessie.
Spotted by a 24-year-old IT employee, on a team-building exercise with work colleagues on Lake Windermere in the Lake District, the so-called “monster” caught on camera-phone (it’s never a powerful camera is it) is being hailed as the English Nessie – and the photo is the clearest yet…apparently.The encounter sounds pretty scary, the young man describing an animal the length of three cars swimming past him “really quickly at about 10mph,” each hump “moving in a rippling motion”.
This is reportedly the eighth sighting in the past five years, but sceptics don’t believe that an animal so large could survive in a lake of only 11 miles in length.
“We run echo sounding surveys every month and have never found anything,” said a University of Lancaster lake ecologist.
Is there an undiscovered monster in the Lake District? The mystery deepens…
Image © infracorreo via photobucket
Labels: young drivers
Friday, February 18, 2011
Cash for crashers ruin lives
As if we don’t already have enough driving-related anxieties to contend with: the cost of car insurance – negative stereotypes of young drivers – spiralling fuel costs – and the sometimes hazardous driving conditions we all must face.
But, it seems there is, sadly, yet another concern car drivers must be wise to: the cash for crash scam and in recent years, police and motor insurance companies have reported a surge in such scams.
My own grandmother, 79-years-old, telephoned me just yesterday to reveal that she had nearly become the victim of such a scam.
She’d been driving on a rural road close to her retiree’s accommodation when the vehicle ahead began engaging in sudden and erratic braking. After a few minutes it became clear to my gran than she was being unwittingly coaxed into a car accident.
Thankfully, she decided to pull over and wait, but also to gather her composure.
However, she is now fearful of taking to the road again and it may be that her motoring life has come to a premature end.
Cash for crash scammers: not only do they drive up the cost of car insurance cover, they also ruin lives.
Image © elisfanclub via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: car insurance cover