If At First You Don't Succeed...
1. Drivers testing their patience
a. "Driver passes after 21 tests"
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2847547.stm >
"After 350 lessons and 20 failed tests over five years Belinda Harrell
has finally heard the words 'You've passed'"
b. "Driving test quest passed"
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3118773.stm >
"A supermarket worker has passed her driving test at the 20th attempt
after taking more than 300 lessons. Sue Mcllwraith, of Hill Top, West
Bromwich, West Midlands, said she was delighted to have made the break-
through after spending £7,000 on tuition since 1996"
c. "Woman takes nine years to pass her driving test"
< http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1179148.html >
"A woman has finally passed her driving test on her 10th attempt. Dawn
Forster has had 1,300 driving lessons costing £7,000 over a nine year
period"
2. "Man, 56, to attempt school exams for 38th time"
< http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_884660.html >
"An Indian man who vowed he would not marry until he passed his school
exams is about to take them for a record 38th time"
3. "Fla. teacher failed Math test 6 times" [expired link]
< http://www.local6.com/news/2064097/detail.html >
"Cougill, 36, acknowledges she has a 'math block'"
4. "Church solves 65-year-old political mystery"
< http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1076134.htm >
"A Speaker's chair that went missing from Tasmania's House of Assembly
nearly 65 years ago has been found"
5. "Red Sox clinch World Series"
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/us_sport/3960577.stm >
"The Boston Red Sox ended 86 years of hurt by beating St Louis Cardinals
to win the World Series"
6. "Team ends 113-game losing streak"
< http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2005/02/03/919683-ap.html >
"Daleville won its first girls basketball game in six years Thursday
night, ending the longest losing streak in Indiana high school basketball
history at 113 games"
7. "130-year-old Chinese fire put out"
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3978329.stm >
"A fire that broke out more than 100 years ago at a Chinese coalfield has
finally been extinguished"
This reminds me of a story I read in Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent", about
a coal seam fire in America that is slowly eating up a town:
"Centralia's Mine Fire History"
< http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia-history.htm >
"The fire was started in a garbage dump over an open coal seam in May of
1962... In 1983, there was fire under about 350 surface acres... [it
still is burning to this day, and there] were no further plans to
fight the fire"
