Making a memorable entrance
A chiropractic clinic in Wichita, Kan., might need to open a drive-through window after two patients crashed their cars through the same office wall—on the same day.
On a Tuesday morning this past December, an elderly patient arriving for an appointment hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and drove her car right into the front of the building. Though there were patients in the waiting area, no one happened to be in the car’s path as it came crashing into the reception area.
Since treatment rooms were unaffected, chiropractors continued seeing patients while a contractor boarded up the hole in the exterior wall and replaced a broken glass pane.
And then it happened again.
Shortly after the temporary repairs were completed, another elderly patient managed to get his accelerator and brake confused and came crashing through the same spot, shattering the new window.
Fortunately no one was injured in either accident, but after two crashes within five hours of each other, the clinic is considering moving to a basement office.
Where the buffalo roam in style
Have you heard the one about the bison walking into the bar? That’s no joke in Edmonton, Alberta, where a rancher takes his pet buffalo on car rides to the local pub.
Jim Sautner, 63, and his wife have raised Bailey D. Buffalo, Jr. since he was a calf. Now a full-grown, 1,600-lb buffalo, Bailey is trained and completely tame, or what the couple call a “gentle buffalo.”
Eventually Sautner figured he might as well bring his best friend to his favorite watering hole, but first he had to figure out how to get Bailey there.
Sautner’s solution was to modify a four-door sedan by removing the back seats and front passenger seat, as well as the roof, windows and windshield. Bailey climbs in through the back door and stands in the passenger side of the car where he can munch from a feed bowl built into the hood of the car. Sautner sits next to Bailey in the driver’s seat and off they go.
Bailey fits right in with the other barflies, enjoying an occasional pint of ale. He even tried out the dance floor once, but the slick surface was too slippery for his hoofs.
If at first you don’t succeed . . .
A 120-mile drive to the airport became a 66-hour marathon for a 72-year-old grandpa in Britain this winter.
Mohammed Bellazrak spent three days driving around snow-covered England trying to get home after dropping his wife off at Gatwick Airport in the south end of London.
Mrs. Bellazrak’s flight to Morocco was moved to Gatwick from Heathrow due to the snowy conditions, and between the weather and the busy traffic, Mohammed got lost on his way home to Trowbridge, due west of London.
He had left his cell phone at home and his GPS system proved unreliable, so he spent the days driving aimlessly through the western suburbs of London and the nights sleeping in his car.
His family eventually reported him missing and police fed his vehicle details into their automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system. Finally on Christmas Day, Bellazrak was spotted driving through Oxford, about an hour northwest of London (and nowhere near Trowbridge).
“I will never go out without my phone again,” Bellazrak vowed. “I blame my sat-nav for what happened!”
Bellazrak’s wife then called from Morocco to say, “Nevermind your sat-nav—haven’t you ever heard of a pay phone? Or a map?! Honestly, I can’t leave you alone for a bloody second. You’d better not be leaving your wet towels all over the floor . . . ”
