A couple of people have emailed me about the recent Newsbiscuit story, Canal boat chase ends in capture after eight days.
The silly picture, particularly, appealed.
An eight-day police chase across two counties ended peacefully when a suspected canal barge thief was cornered in a canal basin near Wolverhampton.
When the emergency call came in last week, police officers ran to their specially-equipped police canal barge with sirens and tracking equipment that has been fitted out for exactly this sort of low-speed chase across the inland waterways of Britain.
But I recall a similar story told in a canal magazine about ten years ago. One that really happened.
In the 1920s or 30s a boatman on the Grand Union stole a loaf of bread from a canalside bakery and made off on his boat.
The baker called the police, who commandeered another boat (or at least hitched a ride) and followed the errant thief for many lock-miles and several hours before catching him.
The story made the local paper, which hinted that two bored policemen simply wanted a day out.
I don't remember which magazine it was, and I don't remember if it was the April issue. Perhaps you, dear reader, remember?
Newsbiscuit is an amusing website, a Brit version of The Onion. Fewer of the stories hit the mark for me, but it still can raise chuckles.
It's a Google ad-sponsored site, and for me the best part are the ads served up alongside the story. Are they for real, or a wind-up? They seem authentic - I clicked through and couldn't see any fakery.
But consider:
The above police/canal story carried this ad alongside: 'Careers in anti-terrorism - free online degree.'
A story on police stopping drivers to test their accents to see if they are poor enough to charge with any offences: 'Got debt? Click here for free bankruptcy evaluation.'
Another story of a pederast complains that police upset his computer settings: '2008 cute kid of the year contest ... enter a photo to win.'
Archbishop of Canterbury converts to Islam: 'Muslima - The international Muslim matrimonial site.'
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