Daring young woman

When Belgian-British teenage pilot Zara Rutherford touched down in Kortrijk, Belgium, on Jan. 20, she became the youngest-ever female pilot to fly around the world. The 19-year-old’s five-month journey required about 32,000 miles of flying in her single-engine Shark ultralight. Along her westerly path, Rutherford was grounded for two weeks in Alaska to avoid bad weather, got banned from Chinese airspace, and dodged fog in India, ultimately putting her two months behind schedule. Because of the size of her ultralight, Rutherford had to stay below the clouds. “It will be very strange to not have to fly every single day anymore or try to fly every single day anymore,” she told reporters who gathered for her landing. “I’m just happy to finally also be in the same spot for a few months.”

Escaped robot

Hotel staff near Cambridge, U.K., announced Jan. 20 one of its robot vacuums had escaped the premises. Staff at the Travelodge reported the self-directed robot vacuum left the hotel via the front door, taking an unexpected cleaning path. Staff noticed the device missing within 15 minutes but couldn’t locate the machine during an initial search. Saying the robot had made a run for it, a hotel assistant manager posted a message to social media asking locals to be on the lookout for the equipment. “Today we had one of our new robot vacuums run for its life,” he said. The next day, a hotel worker found the robot stalled near a bush along the lodging’s driveway.

Pop pope

Vatican reporters knew something was up when a Fiat 500 with Vatican license plates pulled up to one of Rome’s music stores on Jan. 11. Minutes later a photographer snapped a picture of Pope Francis walking out of the Stereosound music shop holding a compact disc. According to Vatican officials, the pope made a surprise visit to the shop to see the owners, whom he promised in his pre-pontifical years that he’d visit when he traveled to Rome. After the 12-minute visit, the owners made sure Francis didn’t leave empty-handed, gifting him a classical music CD as he departed.

Testing failure

A London woman’s gambit to find an easy driving test broke down when she failed the United Kingdom’s easiest driving test. After failing several times before, Constance Kampfner took to the internet to find the nation’s easiest driving test. Writing about her experience in The Times, she said her Google query led her to a 10-hour trip in December to the Isle of Mull off the coast of Scotland. She said she knew her test would skip parallel parking and even lucked out by getting an instructor who didn’t make her prove herself on the local roundabout. She failed anyway. The London woman said she’ll practice more and try again at a later date.

Lasers vs. crows

After decades of complaints from residents and failed initiatives, officials in Sunnyvale, Calif., are ready to deploy lasers to chase away a murder of crows tormenting townspeople. In the final days of January, city employees began spending an hour each evening shining green laser pens at the birds that roost downtown. A technical manual released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture claimed that lasers have been an effective bird dispersal technique, though officials with the local Audubon Society have complained that the lights might blind the corvids. Despite the concerns, Sunnyvale’s Mayor Larry Klein said it was time for extreme measures. “The streets are basically riddled with crow poo,” he told The New York Times.

Canceled cruise

Patrons of a Norwegian Cruise Line ship got surprising news Jan. 13 when they learned their 10-day cruise departing from New York City had been canceled. Even more surprising: The cancellation occurred on the fourth day of the voyage with all passengers aboard. A spokesman for the cruise line blamed “COVID-related issues” for the cancellation, saying the ship would forgo all ports of call and return to New York eventually. That wasn’t welcome news to passenger Aimee Focaraccio who had boarded the Norwegian Gem to celebrate her birthday. “Without the islands and ports to break up the sea days, this is turning into a nightmare. I really can’t imagine four more sea days back to back without much to do,” Focaraccio told USA Today.

Protective gear unprotected

San Mateo County, Calif., officials are struggling to explain why they left millions of dollars’ worth of masks and other protective gear out in the rain. San Francisco’s KGO-TV filmed the soaked and ruined personal protective equipment in January sitting outside the San Mateo County Event Center. According to county officials, the PPE gear was ruined when the cardboard boxes got soaked during October storms. County manager Mike Callagy took ultimate responsibility for the oversight. “It clearly is a mistake by the county and ultimately, I’m responsible for the county,” he told KGO. “We are taking precautions to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”