UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Couple told too heavy for plane take off

STUBBINGTON, England, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A British couple who together weighed 532 pounds said they have lost a collective 172 pounds after they were asked to move so their plane could take off.

Alan Coupe, 54, and his wife Jan, 49, said they were seated in the back of a plane in April 2005 when a flight attendant asked one of them to even out the weight on the aircraft so it could take off, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"The stewardess asked one of us to get up and move to the front, so Alan volunteered to move which I was thankful about as I was so embarrassed I just couldn't look up," Jan Coupe said. "We couldn't believe that we were too heavy for the plane to take off."

"It was a decent-sized plane full of holidaymakers so it was devastating to be told that even a big plane like that couldn't cope with all our weight being at the back," she said.

The couple said they joined a diet club and Alan has since lost 83 pounds while Jan has lost 89 pounds.

"I don't feel embarrassed about getting on a plane anymore -- we all feel so great we could fly around the world now without a hitch," Jan Coupe said.

Bear sniffs up sandwich shop, eats nothing

KITIMAT, British Columbia, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A black bear that pulled open a door to a Canadian Subway sandwich franchise sniffed its way through all the food, but ate nothing and left.

The incident happened last week in Kitimat, British Columbia, and sent the lone employee, Rebecca Branton, scrambling into the washroom, where she used her cell phone to call her mother and police.

She told the Kitimat Sentinel she has just opened the store at 6 a.m. when the bear arrived.

"It stood up on its hind legs and pulled the door open like a person and got down on all fours and the door closed behind it as it walked in," she said.

Security video cameras recorded the bear's every move, including it going behind the counter to sniff the various cold cuts, but it ate nothing, the report said.

Before police arrived, the bear pushed the door open and left, the cameras showed.

Conservation official Brendan McKenna told the Sentinel that later the 2-year-old bear had been shot. He predicted more bear visits in the area as there have been poor fish returns and a late berry crop, the report said.

Obama leads in Montreal coffee shop poll

MONTREAL, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Customers of a French-Canadian coffee shop in Montreal were more than 90 percent in favor of U.S. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama becoming the next president.

The owner of the Java U franchise, Gary Brown, has two tip cups by the cash register, with one featuring a picture of the U.S. senator from Illinois and his rival, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., The Gazette newspaper reported.

The cups have been in place for three weeks and Brown said his staff keep an eye on customers' behavior.

"The kids did a calculation the other day, and 94 percent of the tips went into the Obama cup," he said.

At least 10 times customers dumped the tips from the McCain cup into the Obama cup, the report said.

Brown said he tried to find equally representative photos of the two senators but had problems.

"It was hard to find a picture of McCain that made him look sympathetic -- he always looks angry," Brown told The Gazette.

First fold-away bathroom invented

BRADFORD, England, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A British designer said he was inspired to create the first fold-away bathroom by the limited space in many apartments throughout Britain.

Designer Paul Hernon said after his research indicated bathroom space in homes and rentals was limited, he went about creating the world's first bathroom that can simply be folded up to save space, The Daily Telegraph said Friday.

"I did lots of research and it became obvious to me that bathroom space was decreasing, particularly in apartments," he told the newspaper.

The 38-year-old inventor's creation is an 8-foot-tall metal column whose shower attachments, storage units and toilet all rotate out for use. Once an individual's bathroom activities are concluded, the items swivel back into place and form a unit that takes up less space than conventional bathroom units.

Hernon told the Telegraph that the most alarming consumer aspect of his creation is its weight as the Vertebrae weighs in at 330 pounds, meaning the floor beneath it may need to be reinforced to support its weight.