"My hovercraft is full of eels"

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.

From the BBC, which also notes a few other Welsh translation mishaps.

Developers vs Hampton Court

. . . and it looks as if the developers are winning:

Henry VIII would have suppressed it savagely, but the current custodians of Hampton Court Palace are having difficulty dealing with a conspiracy of local and national authorities.

Developers have been given preliminary approval to build a four-storey hotel, flats and retail outlets across the river from the palace – to the fury of its guardians.

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is demanding a public inquiry into the proposals, which it says will destroy riverside views surrounding the Tudor building, in East Molesey. . .

HRP is angered that its fight to secure a full public inquiry has been undermined by the refusal of English Heritage, the Government's adviser on historic sites and buildings, to support it.

Tim Jones, a team leader at English Heritage, said: "We would still prefer to see nothing on this site other than a landscaped park, but we felt this scheme was less harmful than the previous one."

. . . apparently falling for the old-but-too-often-successful trick of first submitting a development plan that is over-the-top outrageous, then "backing down" and submitting a plan that would itself be seen as outrageous were it not for the lingering shock and relief over the first plan. From the Times of London.

Roman coin hoard in Wales

One of the largest deposits of Roman coins ever recorded in Wales, has been declared treasure trove.

Nearly 6,000 copper alloy coins were found buried in two pots in a field at Sully, Vale of Glamorgan by a local metal detector enthusiast in April.

After the ruling by the Cardiff coroner, a reward is likely to be paid to the finder and landowner.

It is hoped the coins will be donated to National Museum Wales, which has called the find "exceptional".

From the BBC.

Robinson Crusoe, found at last

Three hundred years after Alexander Selkirk, the castaway who was the inspiration for the fictional Robinson Crusoe, was marooned on an island off the coast of Chile, archaeologists believe that they have unearthed evidence of his campsite.

Daniel Defoe's Crusoe spent years on a tropical island, surviving by hunting and foraging, scouring the azure horizon for any sign of a ship to rescue him.

Selkirk, a sailor born in Fife in 1676, was stranded in 1704 on the island of Más a Tierra -- now renamed Robinson Crusoe Island -- part of the Juan Fernández group 470 miles off Chile, after an argument with the master over the seaworthiness of the ship Cinque Ports.

From the Times of London.