StrangeSights

• It’s a cautionary tale about what not to do when boating. A novice boat-owner in the UK ending up sailing in circles this week while trying to make his way from the Gillingham on the Medway River to the south coast town of Southampton. The man, who had bought his motor boat online, had reportedly set out with a road map instead of navigational charts and decided that as long as he kept the coast on his right, he would inevitably reach Southampton. Sadly for him, his theory meant he when reached the Isle of Sheppey - which lies only a short distance from Gillingham - he simply starting circling it and, unaware he was doing so, kept on circling it until his fuel eventually ran out and he ran aground. He was rescued by the coast guard, one of whom described the man as “very short on expertise”.

• He’s the most famous street artist in the world. But that didn’t stop council workers in Melbourne from reportedly inadvertently painting over one of Banksy’s works last week. The work - the stencil of a rat - was one of several works the reclusive artist created in the city when visiting in 2003.

• The idea of insuring body parts has been around for years but this week it was Formula One champion Fernando Alonso’s turn to give it the thumbs up. Alonso’s two thumbs were reportedly insured for 10 million euros as part of a PR campaign for his sponsor’s Santander. Why the thumbs? Not only essential for driving, they’re also needed to make a victory sign.

• It’s the latest in underground bunkers. Designed for the family looking to escape “the next earth devastating catastrophe, terrorist or nuclear attack”, an American company known as Vivos has unveiled its intention building a series of 20 underground complexes, each of which has been designed to autonomously house up to 200 people for a year. The complexes are designed as a wheel system with a central hub in which families can meet and socialise and spokes in which private living quarters are located. The company, whose website has a clock counting down the days to December 21, 2012 - the date that the Mayan calendar predicts the world will end, says it’s already had 1,000 applications for its first nuclear blast shelter located in California. The cost of buying a place in the new complexes has been reported at $US50,000.

• Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is getting the Twitter treatment. The UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company has teamed up with mobile phone content producer Mudlark to provide a version of the play in which actors are improvising their tweets based on the original play. The actors are also being encouraged to interact with the audience as well as each other. You can join in here: www.suchtweetsorrow.com.

• The Isles of Scilly, off the south-west coast of the UK, may only have nine miles of ‘proper’ road. But that hasn’t stopped the local constabulary from getting their hands on a speed camera to stop anyone who might even be thinking of hooning. But an arrest may be some way off - the highest speed reportedly clocked so far as been 34mph.