Bad news from Osnabriick, Germany, where the Christkindlmarkt was disrupted before Christmas by an explosion in a pressurised tank containing mulled wine. Alarmed stallholders and shoppers were showered with debris and wine and nine people needed medical treatment. That overpressure can really spoil your day. In Cologne back in September a Dutch road tanker carrying 20 tonnes of pig manure exploded because the cargo got too hot and ruptured a glass panel in the truck. "I was in the kitchen and suddenly there was no more light coming through the window," one nearby resident, whose home was the target of part of the cargo, reported. Not a lot of people know this, but the Netherlands exported 700,000 tonnes of manure in 2009, of which 80 per cent ended up in Germany.
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