[box title=”10 weirdest storage unit discoveries “]images (19)1. Grandma’s body. While most of us would never dream of stashing a loved one’s ashes in a storage unit, apparently some people do exactly that. There have been several reports of urns full of cremated remains found inside storage units, which seems like a strange way to honor a deceased loved one. In an even stranger case, a Florida family kept their grandmother’s body in a blue casket inside a storage unit for 17 years following her death. When the storage unit owner notified the family that the unit would be sold for unpaid rent, they responded that the contents couldn’t possibly be put up for auction, since they included a relative’s dead body. 2. A live hand grenade. It’s not all that unusual to find guns or ammunition in a storage unit, but recently a man in Michigan found something with a little more fire-power. After finding a live hand grenade, he called the police, and the bomb squad arrived to detonate the grenade. Thankfully, no one was hurt by this dangerous surprise. Now that’s an explosive discovery! 3. Never-released Michael Jackson tunes. Not all strange finds are bad ones. Over 250 original songs by Michael Jackson were once found in a storage unit belonging to his father, Joe Jackson. The songs – some of which were recorded with Tina Turner – were apparently recorded while Michael was between contracts. That means that no recording companies had a legal claim to the songs, reportedly worth millions of dollars – making the lucky buyer a Smooth Criminal. 4. Aretha Franklin’s clothes. After a fire in her home, Franklin apparently used a Michigan storage unit to keep her clothing and hats safe. However, she eventually stopped paying for the unit, and her iconic wardrobe was sold to the highest bidder. Even the fabulous fashions of the Queen of Soul weren’t immune to the auctioneer’s hammer, sending the lucky bidder home with her legendary wardrobe. 5. A treasure trove of Burt Reynolds’ weird belongings. Some of the many oddities found in Burt Reynolds’ storage unit include a horse carriage built by Dolly Parton, a framed letter from Burt’s doctor about a 1955 surgery on his spleen, the bill of sale for Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger, and the canoe from the 1972 movie Deliverance. And that’s only the start of it. There was so much weird stuff in Burt’s storage unit that its contents formed the basis for a kitschy celebrity museum in Florida. 6. Old Space Equipment. Some of the weirder storage unit finds deal with a different kind of star. Spike TV’s Auction Hunters showed the bidding action at a storage unit auction close to Florida’s Cape Canaveral. One of the winners uncovered a NASA rocket and countdown clock in the unit he had purchased. The old equipment had been stored there after the spaced program they were part of was discontinued. 7. A million-dollar comic book belonging to Nicholas Cage. Back in 2000, Nicholas Cage filed a police report after an extremely rare comic book was stolen from his home in Los Angeles. More than a decade later, the comic book (Action Comics #1 – worth more than a million dollars) turned up in an abandoned storage unit. The man who purchased the storage unit at auction contacted a comic book dealer, who happened to have been the same person to have originally sold Cage the book. He recognized it instantly, and Nicholas Cage has reportedly been reunited with his comic book. 8. Thousands of dollars in cold, hard cash. A San Jose man bought a storage unit at auction, later realizing that it contained thousands of dollars in rare coins, and gold and silver ingots. Worth more than half a million dollars, the gold mine was stored in an unlikely treasure chest: a blue Rubbermaid container. The anonymous buyer paid $1,100 for the stash at a storage unit auction. 9. Rare cars. In 2009, a 1937 Bugatti 57S was discovered in an English storage garage, where it sat untouched for half a century. One of just a handful of these original supercars ever made, experts believe it to be worth as much as $9 million. A surgeon, Harold Carr, apparently put the car in storage after buying it in the 1950s. When he died in 2007, his nephew uncovered the rare car. 10. Knight Rider. And that’s not even the only rare car to ever turn up in a storage unit! In the United Kingdom, one storage unit company was shocked one day when a customer drove up in a copy of K.I.T.T., the famous Knight Rider car. Normally, most people putting their vehicle in storage have an old work van or a daily driver they don’t have space for, so you can imagine the employees’ flabbergasted faces when Michael Knight’s K.I.T.T. drove up.Anything you imagine can be found in a storage unit. Usually, the only glimpse the public gets behind the metal doors is when the renter has failed to pay for the unit, and the contents are offered at auction. If these are the weirdest things that have been found in self storage facilities, just imagine what’s been stored there and never been seen! [/box]

jack-banister(1) Exeter's first team hockey goalkeeper

 

 

[box]jack-banister(1)

Exeter to Edinburgh and back in a day: How one fresher’s lost bet left him facing a 900-mile round trip

jack-banister(1) Exeter’s first team hockey goalkeeper, Jack Banister, was forced to board a train at 6:20am this morning, having lost the competition at the club’s Christmas Dinner. Amidst scenes of celebration from relieved teammates and jubilant returners, the 19-year-old managed to joke: “I’ve got to ring my mum, she told me not to lose.” “I knew I was in trouble, I’m just so bad at fives,” he added, chuckling at the various tweets coming in from hockey clubs around the country. Banister, who hails from South Australia, did not sleep last night and will be travelling until around 10:45 this evening, when he is due to return to Exeter. The club tradition has been going for over four years and involves one first year from the National League side making the 16-and-a-half-hour round trip each season, at the club’s expense. All six of Exeter’s hockey teams’ freshers play an opening round, before the loser of each progresses to a final match, which decides the club member who will be making the 900 mile journey just hours later. The annual competition hit the news last year after fresher Ben Sully was surprised to be met by players from Edinburgh University’s Hockey Club, who brought gifts to the station after hearing about the event on Twitter. The Scotland side – known, like Exeter, as “EUMHC” – are expected to replicate that hospitality today. Exeter’s club captain Sam Plater said: “Edinburgh make our intrepid explorer feel very welcome and we have now created a return link, when our Scottish counterparts send one of their own down to us in February.” “The hype and excitement that builds up from as early as September creates a fantastic buzz amongst the second and third years and quite a level of anticipation amongst our first years. The unfortunate (or perhaps fortunate) fresher who makes the voyage north leaves a loser but returns a mighty hero and legend of the club.” “Edinburgh Fresh” are expected to take mobile devices so that the club can tweet live updates of their progress, particularly their interaction with the Edinburgh players, which attracted a great deal of attention last year. “Every year it seems to grow a bit – the extra twist this year really added to the event,” explained EUMHC Social Secretary Ali Williams, referring to a subtle change in the rules which meant select second and third years had the potential to be the ones making today’s trip. The club have been open to refining the game each year, with the idea of “Madrid Fives” even being touted last term.[/box]

Bye Bye Speed cameras

[box title=”Bye Bye Speed cameras “]speed camsThe delivery services sector won’t be alone in not shedding too many tears that a whole raft of speed cameras are being taken out of commission due to cuts in central Government funding. The safety camera partnerships in England and Wales say that they can no longer afford to operate the large number of cameras throughout the road network, but the yellow boxes will remain to deter motorists. Like most commercial motoring organisations, and indeed private motorists, the delivery services sector is somewhat bemused that after years of the Government and local authorities claiming it’s not about the money, it’s about safety, once the funds have dried up, the cameras are going. Delivery companies have remained sceptical about such safety-only claims, because when the Government was in effect subsidising the installation and operation of cameras, local authorities could reap a tidy profit. Once that subsidy was withdrawn and profits diverted to the Treasury, suddenly the appetite was lost. It’s reckoned that in the first round of cuts, some 10% of the total 4,000 fixed speed cameras will be shut down. The most affected county is the West Midlands which will lose just over 200 cameras, with Staffordshire next at around 100. Northamptonshire will see a tad over 40 closed down and Somerset some 15. Hampshire loses around 5. These are the five counties losing the most cameras, but far more shut downs are expected in the future. Ironically, mainland Europe seems to be just embracing the idea of fixed speed cameras, so the European transport sector will want to see how a more widespread use of the devices will effect costs over the coming years. Many local authorities say that the switch off does not mean turning a blind eye to speeding and more roving speed patrols, undertaken by the police, will be started. Whatever happens, there are many in the delivery services sector who will not miss the passing of many of the silent speed sentinels of the road![/box]