The beauty of Bermuda on a budget has been described to Washington Post readers in article yesterday.

The writer, John Deiner stayed at the $100 Clairfont Apartments in Warwick which he enjoyed apart from having his backpack stolen and rifled through when he'd left the room unlocked.

He paid just under $900 for his four day trip, including air fare, lodging, transfers, ground transportation, activities and all meals. Savings were made by walking and using the bus rather than hiring bikes or cabs.

However he complains about the prices at the Modern Mart. He said it was “a grocery store with food so expensive I almost felt guilty digesting it - $5 for a bag of rolls, $2 for a skimpy green pepper, $7 for a half-gallon of ice cream.”

He adds: “Strangely enough, though mayonnaise on the island goes for $4 a jar, it was easy to find decent wine for under $10 a bottle.”

He raves about St. George's and takes part in a the traditional wench dunking.

The vacancy created by Richard Ground's departure from Chief Justice of Turks and Caicos to take the same post here is also the subject of a long article in the UK's Daily Telegraph which notes Mr. Ground's successor will get an improved package of $120,000 pay and a $30,000 living allowance.

A 48-year-old Devonshire man is in a stable condition after losing control of his bike on North Shore Road, Smith's on Saturday night.

The man was travelling east near Jenning's Road when he struck a wooden railing by the roadside and was thrown from his bike, landing some distance away.

A 19-year-old Southampton woman has been released from hospital after his car hit another on Middle Road Southampton in the early hours of Saturday. And a 24-year-od Hamilton parish man also needed hospital treatment after losing control of his bike while going round a corner on Glebe Road, Devonshire in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It may all be a horse tale but it was certainly no pleasant surprise for Derrick Seymour when he read in Friday's edition of The Royal Gazette that his newly bought horse was stolen.

According to Police, Pleasant Surprise, a brown and black horse was stolen on Wednesday. The alleged owner said he woke on Wednesday morning and discovered the horse missing from his Watlington Lane home.

But Mr. Seymour said the man who made the report to Police was not the legal owner of the Bay Stallion pony. He told The Royal Gazette that the rightful owner had reclaimed the animal after the alleged owner had failed to complete payment after four years.

“What happened is the guy who owns the horse sold it four years ago to a guy who never paid for it,” Mr. Seymour said. “So the guy got his horse back and sold it to me.”

When contacted yesterday the man who filed the Police report stood by his claim and said: “No comment. They stole it. Don't use it.”

Gasoline prices are set for a 1.9 cent increase per litre, the Ministry of Finance announced on Friday.

Diesel prices are slated to increase by 2.1 cents per litre and kerosene prices will rise by 3.1 cents per litre.

Consequently the maximum retail prices displayed on the pumps for fuel will be 144.10 cents/litre for gasoline, 116.10 cents/litre for diesel, and kerosene will be set at 93.50 cents/litre.

A lone fisherman drifted five miles off Bermuda after his anchor broke and then his engine broke down.

He had been fishing off St. David's on Saturday evening but then drifted five miles off Kitchen Shoals.

A Harbour Radio spokesman said: “That's quite a way out for someone on their own in an 18-foot boat. It was getting dark.”

He called for help at 7.41 p.m. and Marine Police found him in his boat Bitter Sweet around 9 p.m. and towed it back.

A Sandys man was fined $1,000 for possession of cannabis when he appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Christopher John Bromby, 17, of Smith's View Mangrove Lane, was stopped by Police in a Paget parking lot on June 13 after they noticed him displaying “nervous and evasive behaviour”.

They searched him and found 1.73 grams of cannabis in his pockets. Bromby pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined him $1000.

A woman who carried a pick axe to protect herself from her former boyfriend had charges against her thrown out of court Friday.

Doreen Larinda Wade, 47, of Fenton Drive, was charged with possessing an offensive weapon on July 15.

The court heard how Wade had visited her ex-boyfriend that night and the pair ended up fighting. When Wade tried to leave in a taxi, her ex-boyfriend attempted to stop her and the Police were called. Officers then discovered Wade carrying the pick axe, which Wade said she was carrying for her own protection

Yesterday Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner dropped the charges, saying that he believed the defendant's actions were legal and that she was under an “imminent threat”.

Jameko Huble Blakeney, 24, of Footbridge Lane Pembroke was remanded in custody Friday for failing to make court appearances on a number of counts.

Blakeney was accused of breaking into a Pembroke house between August 10 and August 19 2002.

In court yesterday he pleaded not guilty to this count but admitted that he stole a Honda Scoopy from another Pembroke residence.

He was expected to show up in Magistrates' Court in February 2003 to deal with these matters.

Blakeney said that he did show up to court and Magistrate Francis “cleared it up”; however, the court records do not indicate this.

He was also charged with possessing cocaine on November 18 2003, he pleaded not guilty. He will appear in Magistrates' Court July 21 for trial.