A Stranger's London
The long goodbye
Loving wife Mabel Mintrim has not seen her husband since she kissed him goodbye and he went off to work... 21 YEARS AGO.After being granted a divorce, she said: "I even tied a new scarf round his neck to keep him warm. Perhaps I should have tied it a little tighter."
Her husband, planning engineer Basil Mintrim, walked out on his wife and seven children without a word after 16 years of marriage, the London Divorce Court heard.
He left the family "plagued by debts" and liable to be thrown out of their home because he had not been paying the mortgage. Judge Monier-Williams granted Mrs Mintrim, of Thornton Heath, Surrey, a decree nisi because the couple had lived apart for more than five years.
Later, Mrs Mintrim, 59, said: "I loved him very much. He was a good father and I was devastated when I realised he wasn't coming back. "But if he turned up now he would have to have a pretty good excuse for being so late."
Bingo bandits stole £23,000 life savings
A thief yelled "Bingo!" as his mate snatched a woman's handbag bulging with her £23,500 life savings, a court heard. Later one man was arrested near the bingo hall with her handbag but its contents, £23,500 cash and £1,000 worth of jewellery, had disappeared.The 65-year-old pensioner, Hilda Latham of Rainhill, Merseyside, had her bag between her feet when a man beside her shouted "Bingo" Liverpool Crown Court heard.
In the commotion, a second man snatched her bag, the prosecution claimed Joseph Michael MacMahon, 38, of Huyton, denies theft.
The case continues.
Don't smoke in bed
Cigarettes can damage your sex life. That's the warning from a group of French doctors who claim that smoking and a high fat diet can make men impotent.They say that if you puff about 15 cigarettes a day for 15 years, your sex life stands a good chance of being ruined. The reason, they say, is that cigarettes restrict circulation - and that means not enough blood reaches the parts it should.
The French, working at a research centre in Paris, studied more than 400 impotent men. Their average age was 46 and most of them smoked. Half the smokers suffered from impaired sexual performance due to low blood pressure.
Previously it has been thought that impotence in men in a third of cases was caused by stress. In an article in the British journal The Lancet, the doctors recommended that those suffering from impotence should follow the same rules as those with heart disease - no cigarettes and low- fat food.
In Britain, nearly 17 million people still smoke, with women finding it harder to give up than men.
Enough to drive a Wally crazy
Allan Wally is fed up; with people telling him: "You are a Wally". Now he'll just have to get used to posters and car stickers urging: 'Point A Finger At A Wally".It's the slogan of a road safety campaign in the West Midlands where he lives.
The idea is to shame bad drivers with the up-dated name for a twerp. "There'll be no getting away from it," said non-driver Mr Wally, a job centre clerk, of West Heath, Birmingham.
His wife Imelda, 27, is trying to laugh it off. She wears a campaign badge saying: "I'm no Wally".
But the couple fee sorry for their four-year-old son Adam. And they hope the insult will be out of fashion by the time baby Amy grows up.
The campaign has been wildly criticised. Police fear it could cause accidents. And there are fears that pointing a finger and the exhortation 'Wally!" could end in a punch-up.
Lenient wardens pay the penalty
Soft-hearted traffic wardens have paid the penalty for being too nice to drivers: they got a ticking off and an order to hand out more tickets. Wardens who last year booked 11,000 motorists have been told by accountants to book an extra 5,000 this year. County councillors in Warwickshire however defended the 25 meter monitors. One said the accountant's report was "a lot of purple prose." Police said the report merely meant local drivers were more law-abiding than in other areas. And a warden at bay said: "We just can't win."School for kisses
Husbands and wives are being wooed and make up. According to lecturer to evening classes to learn how to kiss Sue Woods, of Stourbridge College in West Midlands: 'Many couples marry before they've had time to get to know each other well enough to sort out their differences.'Panic in court as man in dock admits: I have AIDS
A court was cleared in a 30-second stampede after the prisoner in the dock told the judge: "I have AIDS."Even the judge ran from the Brussels courtroom. Police shouted from the doorway to tell the prisoner, a Moroccan accused of bomb hoaxes, to make his own way to the prison van. When he arrived in jail, warders refused to admit him and demanded medical tests for themselves and all the inmates. The accused man, a homosexual heroin addict, was in quarantine in hospital and the case against him was adjourned.
Witch's wedding is called off
Caroline Syson's white wedding is off - because her fiance is a witch.When vicar Brian Oddy heard of 19-year-old Simon Davies's bizarre beliefs, he called the couple to see him. "He told us it was off" said student Simon, of Stanley Place, Preston, Lancs.
"Since then I've had two bishops and ten priests contact me. One said he was praying for my soul." Now they are planning a registrar office ceremony.
"Caroline's mother is very upset," said Simon. "I've been told not to talk any more about witchcraft or the wedding could be off altogether.
"I've had to pack up my altar and witchcraft tools until it's all over." Simon has turned the basement of his house into a temple where his coven of two men and two girls dance naked round an altar.
A church spokesman denied that Mr Oddy had refused to marry the couple.
