Throwing money down the toilet

A retiree in northern Germany flushed some 30,000 marks down the toilet, believing the old bank notes were worthless, police said. Officials were alerted by a blocked pipe in the northern city of Kiel. A cleaning company employee extracted soggy bundles of bank notes, but more money got away as the water started flowing again. Investigators then discovered that the retiree had reported a blocked pipe at his house the same day. They visited the "slightly bewildered" man at his apartment and he confirmed that he had flushed the money away, a police statement issued late Wednesday said.