A former regional daily news editor is among a group of villagers to be hit by a bizarre influx of Chinese tourists.
The Oxford Mail has reported up to 40 tourists at a time have been spotted posing in front gardens and among flowers in the Oxfordshire village of Kidlington for the past few weeks.
Coachloads of sightseers have been turning up to take pictures of people’s homes and gardens, as well as asking to have photos taken with locals themselves.
One of those affected by the bizarre phenomenon is ex-Mail news editor John Chipperfield, who told his former paper that tourists had been in his garden to take pictures of his hanging baskets.
Chinese tourists at a house in the village of Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Credit Tony Bennell.
He added: “They all seem very harmless, they just seem to take a picture and then disappear.”
However, John’s light-hearted reaction has not been universally shared, with Kidlington Parish Council chairman Maurice Billington contacting police over the matter.
He speculated an unusual record held by the village may explain the reason behind the influx.
Cllr Billington told the Mail: “It’s supposed to be the biggest village in Europe so that might be the reason. We are happy for them to come here but we do not want them going into people’s gardens to take pictures.”
Another villager, John Wheeler, added: “The first time we noticed them was the day Tim Peake landed because we were sat watching it on TV in our living room.
“I turned around and there were two Chinese people right up close to our front window taking pictures of the vase of flowers in the widow. I went outside and they were all very excited, then they wanted me to get in the pictures as well.”
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If only there was a reporter brave enough to talk to a Chinese tourist, the mystery might be solved.
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But that would mean sending a reporter all the way from the office out to Kidlington, so not much chance of that.
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Xia che, wo de xuexing de caoping (Google translate)
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…and it would solve the mystery, thereby ruining it. As undoubtedly John Chipperfield knows. As an ex-news ed he almost certainly knows the whole story by now – but why spoil a good silly season tale by explaining it?
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Just checked but doesn’t re-translate well. Anglo-saxon version says “get off my bloody lawn.”
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TIme to solve the “mystery”. Let’s have the follow-up.
Talk to some of the tourists. If they don’t speak English, get hold of someone to interpret. It should be easy enough.
You can’t go on pretending this is a mystery indefinitely. OK. have a bit of fun with it initially.
A newspaper should inform, as well as entertain.
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Answer is obvious. News editors are an endangered species and the tourists are making sure they get plenty of pix of one before they all disappear.
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