From crazy crepe capers to kangaroos running wild (but not in Australia), a titanic strawberry and the secret to long life, it continued to be an interesting week in the world in places other than Eastern Europe.

KANGAROO CAPERS – IN DENMARK?

Police in southeastern Denmark on Monday appealed for public help to track down what appeared to be a kangaroo that was filmed hopping across a field. Police said that a driver saw the marsupial “hopping around” near Øster Ulslev, a village 16 km. from the port city of Rødbyhavn where ferries connect to northern Germany. They said the driver had the presence of mind to film the animal, although they acknowledged the three-second video they posted was “short and grainy.” Nobody has reported a kangaroo missing. Despite the fact that kangaroos are not common in northern Europe, it is the second time the same police district has reached out for help in finding one: in 2014, a kangaroo escaped from a private animal farm in the same area. And in July 2018, a kangaroo was on the run elsewhere in Denmark for half a day before its owner found it.

STRIP SEARCH OPTIONAL

Hundreds of people in Zurich, Switzerland, have jumped at the chance to willingly live like a prisoner for up to four days, volunteering to take part in a March 24-27 open house of sorts for a new jail before the facility accepts its first inmates. Well over 800 applications for an as-yet undecided number of spots have been made. The selected volunteers won’t have to pay or get paid to participate and will be treated like inmates in some regards: testing food, undergoing intake procedures, walking the yard, etc., and cellphones and other electronic devices aren’t allowed inside. Participants will require security clearance and need to undergo checks similar to airport screenings. Strip-searches upon entry, however, will be optional.

THAT’S GOTTA HURT
A Michigan woman celebrated a milestone birthday this week. How old? Look at her decorative upper arm. Gloria Weberg (photo) has “NY NY 1922” tattooed on her left arm, the year and place of her birth. Weberg turned 100 on March 2, not a typical age to visit a tattoo artist. But that’s what she has done every 10 years since turning 80. Her birth year and New York is under a goddess representing Mother Earth – added at age 80 – and among seven stars representing her children, which she added at age 90. “My secret is being active,” Weberg said of her longevity. “To be aware of what’s going on in the world in every way, from what my children were doing, their education, how important that was to me.” A tattoo at 110? “Probably something like, ‘Are you still here?’ or ‘I’m still here,’” Weberg laughed.

IS IT SOMETHING IN THE WATER?

A small boat launched in October 2020 by some New Hampshire middle school students and containing photos, fall leaves, acorns and state quarters has been found 462 days later – by a sixth grader in Norway. The 1.8-m. “Rye Riptides,” decorated with artwork from the kids and equipped with a tracking device that went silent for parts of the journey, was found in Smøla, a small island near Dyrnes, Norway. It had lost its hull and keel on the 13,400-km journey and was covered in gooseneck barnacles, but the deck and cargo hold were still intact. The student who found it, Karel Nuncic, took the boat to his school, and he and his classmates eagerly opened it. The school in Norway plans a call with the Rye Junior High students soon.

Meanwhile, a man in Norway discovered a Maine Department of Transportation hard hat while he was collecting trash earlier this month along Norway’s coast. Sigbjørn Eide spotted an American flag and a MaineDOT logo on the hard hat, which was buried in seaweed; when he got home later that day, he reached out to the department through social media. A MaineDOT spokesperson said the department won’t ask Eide to return the hat and is planning to send him some items from the state.

A FRUITFUL DELAY

After a year-long jam, a mammoth Israeli strawberry is entering the record books. Weighing a whopping 289 grams (more than half a pound), the massive berry last week was declared the world’s largest by Guinness World Records. The strawberry was picked on Chahi Ariel’s family farm near the city of Netanya in central Israel in February 2021. But only this week, Guinness confirmed it as the heaviest on record. The supersized strawberry is a local variety called Ilan that tends to grow to a hefty size. Ariel said the record-setting specimen (which was frozen) has shrunk to about half the size it was a year before. The previous record-holder for the heaviest strawberry was a Japanese fruit grown in 2015 in Fukuoka that tipped the scales at 250 grams.

TIGER TALE

A Worcester, Massachusetts man was arrested Monday for trying to enter a tiger enclosure after breaking into Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. When approached by staff, he ran off but was quickly located by security officials and arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. The State Police said that when questioned, the man only said he was very interested in tigers.

AND THE NEWS YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…

A woman from Liberal, Kansas, is this year’s champion of the traditional Pancake Day Race against women in Olney, England. Whitney Hay won the US leg of the race in Liberal on Tuesday with a time of 1:07, KSNW-TV reported. That beat Katie Godof of Olney, England, who ran her race in 1:10. The race returned after a hiatus in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hay, a 21-year-old college student, also won the Liberal race in 2020 but lost to Olney that year.

Contestants must carry a pancake in a frying pan and flip it at the beginning and end of the 380-m. race. The event began in Olney in the 15th century. In 1950, Liberal challenged Olney to an international competition. The crepe-like pancakes are traditionally eaten in the United Kingdom on Shrove Tuesday, the start of Lent.