UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News
Published: May 9, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Film documents man's failed relationships
LONDON, May 9 (UPI) -- A London man has made a film documenting his quest to track down his ex-girlfriends and find out why they broke up with him.
Chris Waitt, who said he has been dumped by every girl he's dated since he was 11 years old, said he tracked down his exes and interviewed them for his documentary, "A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures," The Mirror reported Friday.
"Girls don't usually tell you at the time," Waitt said of their reasons for breaking up with him. "When you actually get dumped they'll say, 'Oh, I just want to be friends.' Or 'I really like you, but...' They never tell you the real reasons."
Dawn, Waitt's childhood sweetheart and the woman he lost his virginity to, blamed the breakup on his behavior at a wedding.
"We went to a wedding and he got really (drunk)... and he jammed my mum up against a door and kissed her. I didn't know what to do. It was horrible," she said.
"In all, it was great to meet my ex-girlfriends over the years," Waitt said. "It made me realize I've hurt some really nice girls but I think it all worked out OK in the end."
Gardener gets surprise mystery plant
VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 9 (UPI) -- A Canadian gardener on British Columbia's Vancouver Island says he has no idea how a rare South African plant sprouted from one of his flower pots.
Milko Jadresko, 79, retired after spending 45 years as a gardener and landscaper, but still keeps his own garden in Saanich, the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper said.
Three weeks ago, growth appeared in a pot he thought was empty, and after consultations with numerous nurseries, it was determined the mystery plant was arisaema sikokianum, also known as jack in the pulpit or Japanese cobra lily, the newspaper said.
"It must be (that) my wife or I planted it and didn't even know," Jadresko said.
The plant's flower has since blossomed with a round white bud covered by tubular leaf that flops over the top like a hat, which rare-plant specialist Richard Fraser said was a gardener's dream.
"Probably less than 1 percent of gardeners have seen that as a flowering plant," Fraser told the newspaper.
Man saves own life with steak knife
OMAHA, May 9 (UPI) -- An Omaha man says he saved his own life when he performed a tracheotomy on himself.
"I was scared to death. I was thinking about dying," said Steve Wilder of his near-death experience last week
Wilder woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe, his air passage swollen shut, he told WOWT-TV. "It just blocked all the way and I just got up and I panicked!" he said.
The 55-year-old Wilder, who said he didn't think he had time to call and wait for help, had the choice of lying there and suffocating or taking matters in his own hands with a steak knife.
"Got a knife and located it and pushed in and blood went gush," he said. Blood was gushing out, but air was gushing in. "I think I closed my eyes, but fear or something took over. I didn't feel no pain or nothing," he told WOWT-TV.
A bout with throat cancer gave him some idea where to go with the knife.
"I was thinking about my family and here's what I am saying, I think God had it all to do," he said to the television station.
Elderly man rescued after toy boat flips
GLASGOW, Scotland, May 9 (UPI) -- Coast guard officials said a 74-year-old man was lucky to survive his botched attempt at sailing a Scottish sea loch in a child's blow up boat.
John Stevenson, of Glasgow, prompted serious rescue efforts Wednesday when his small dinghy tuned over in the rough waters of Loch Ryan on the Galloway coast, the Scotsman reported Friday.
"It was obvious he was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing," a rescuer said.
The man was attempting to get to his motor boat, which had floated into the sea. He did reach the boat, but not before being tossed into the sea and receiving a head injury while climbing aboard, the report said.
"It is entirely possible that, if it were not for the informant who saw the man in difficulty on the water that it could have ended in tragedy," Clyde coast guard watch manager Peter Stewart said.
LONDON, May 9 (UPI) -- A London man has made a film documenting his quest to track down his ex-girlfriends and find out why they broke up with him.
Chris Waitt, who said he has been dumped by every girl he's dated since he was 11 years old, said he tracked down his exes and interviewed them for his documentary, "A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures," The Mirror reported Friday.
"Girls don't usually tell you at the time," Waitt said of their reasons for breaking up with him. "When you actually get dumped they'll say, 'Oh, I just want to be friends.' Or 'I really like you, but...' They never tell you the real reasons."
Dawn, Waitt's childhood sweetheart and the woman he lost his virginity to, blamed the breakup on his behavior at a wedding.
"We went to a wedding and he got really (drunk)... and he jammed my mum up against a door and kissed her. I didn't know what to do. It was horrible," she said.
"In all, it was great to meet my ex-girlfriends over the years," Waitt said. "It made me realize I've hurt some really nice girls but I think it all worked out OK in the end."
Gardener gets surprise mystery plant
VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 9 (UPI) -- A Canadian gardener on British Columbia's Vancouver Island says he has no idea how a rare South African plant sprouted from one of his flower pots.
Milko Jadresko, 79, retired after spending 45 years as a gardener and landscaper, but still keeps his own garden in Saanich, the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper said.
Three weeks ago, growth appeared in a pot he thought was empty, and after consultations with numerous nurseries, it was determined the mystery plant was arisaema sikokianum, also known as jack in the pulpit or Japanese cobra lily, the newspaper said.
"It must be (that) my wife or I planted it and didn't even know," Jadresko said.
The plant's flower has since blossomed with a round white bud covered by tubular leaf that flops over the top like a hat, which rare-plant specialist Richard Fraser said was a gardener's dream.
"Probably less than 1 percent of gardeners have seen that as a flowering plant," Fraser told the newspaper.
Man saves own life with steak knife
OMAHA, May 9 (UPI) -- An Omaha man says he saved his own life when he performed a tracheotomy on himself.
"I was scared to death. I was thinking about dying," said Steve Wilder of his near-death experience last week
Wilder woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe, his air passage swollen shut, he told WOWT-TV. "It just blocked all the way and I just got up and I panicked!" he said.
The 55-year-old Wilder, who said he didn't think he had time to call and wait for help, had the choice of lying there and suffocating or taking matters in his own hands with a steak knife.
"Got a knife and located it and pushed in and blood went gush," he said. Blood was gushing out, but air was gushing in. "I think I closed my eyes, but fear or something took over. I didn't feel no pain or nothing," he told WOWT-TV.
A bout with throat cancer gave him some idea where to go with the knife.
"I was thinking about my family and here's what I am saying, I think God had it all to do," he said to the television station.
Elderly man rescued after toy boat flips
GLASGOW, Scotland, May 9 (UPI) -- Coast guard officials said a 74-year-old man was lucky to survive his botched attempt at sailing a Scottish sea loch in a child's blow up boat.
John Stevenson, of Glasgow, prompted serious rescue efforts Wednesday when his small dinghy tuned over in the rough waters of Loch Ryan on the Galloway coast, the Scotsman reported Friday.
"It was obvious he was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing," a rescuer said.
The man was attempting to get to his motor boat, which had floated into the sea. He did reach the boat, but not before being tossed into the sea and receiving a head injury while climbing aboard, the report said.
"It is entirely possible that, if it were not for the informant who saw the man in difficulty on the water that it could have ended in tragedy," Clyde coast guard watch manager Peter Stewart said.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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