COMPILED NEWS

Man wrestles croc to rescue wife

The crocodile locked its jaws around its victim's legs
A woman has been rescued from the jaws of a crocodile in Australia after her husband jumped onto its back and forced it to flee. I only hope he won't regret having safed his wife in a few years !



UAE stages camel beauty contest
Ten thousand camels will be fluttering their long eyelashes in a unique international beauty pageant being held in the United Arab Emirates. The contest in Abu Dhabi is one of the richest and biggest events of its kind, with more than $9m (£4.5m; 5.8m euros) and 100 cars in prizes up for grabs. I wonder why they are not veiled ???



Prickly weapon ... a hedgehog
'Hedgehog thrown at boy'
A NEW Zealand man is due in court later this month over a thorny issue - an alleged assault with a hedgehog. Police say William Singalargh, 27, is accused of picking up the creature and throwing it at a 15-year-old boy. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. The poor litte hedgehog ! But what a case for a new CSI serie ! Imagine them to find out that the weapon was a hedgehog !!



Prince discharged from hospital
The Duke of Edinburgh waved as he left hospital
The Duke of Edinburgh has been discharged from hospital and is recuperating at Windsor Castle after being treated for a chest infection. The devil still has to wait a little !



Japan's 'geisha guys' the latest accessory

The latest must-have item in Japan is a male 'geisha' More busy women executives are willing to pay for male companionship. The cost for a night of flirting and compliments can run to $50,000. Why not ? Men do it since ages !




Mum of Eight boys wants a girl
Supermum Wendy Bowen wants a girl after eight boys, she's not finished having babies yet. "I'd like more," she says, with a coy look towards her husband. "Just one. But my midwife friend says I should stop now." I say the same ! But maybe she doesn't know she can make love without getting pregnant ???

MANIC MONDAY - GETTING USED TO THE EURO

MANIC MONDAY LINK



The euro is the official currency of the European Union, used in 15 member states : Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. It is also used in 9 other countries around the world, 7 of those being in Europe. Hence it is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans. The Euro was introduced in all these countries on January 1, 2002, except in the United Kingdom and Denmark.

This of course was a big change for all people and especially on the psycological side. In Belgium for example for 1000 francs which sounds a lot you suddenly only had 25 € in your hand. For the Germans it was not better because they got "half" of their salary the one who earned 1000 DM had to be happy with only 500 € with the same value of course. The worst was for the Italians. They all were millionaires with their Lira and to fill in a tank you had to pay millions. Suddenly for 1000 lira they only got 50 CENTS !!

To get used to the European currency was difficult for every adult and we all needed to calculate a lot with the help of all kind of conversion tables. Even lighters had the Belgian Frank = Euro table printed on them. But the once who suffered the most and still do were the elderly people. Some of them really couldn't understand why something which was worth 1000 francs was only worth 25 €. And the Italians instead of their millions only had 10 €.

A lot of people still calculate in their old currencies. The younger once got easily used to it and now there is the new generation who never knew another currency than the Euro. Amongst all my friends and people I know I think we are 4 or 5 who only calculate in Euro and don't think about the old currency anymore. But all the others still calculate in Belgian Francs or other European former currencies. My sister in law even in Lira ! When she tells me that she had bought something for 10 thousand lira you can imagine my face ! It sounds such a lot and in reality it's only 5 € !



Euros and cents