A pet iguana has been called a “miracle” by baffled vets after seemingly coming back to life at a crematorium just hours after “dying”.
Frank – a 10-year-old tropical lizard – left his owner Larissa Palmieri devastated after she found him cold, lifeless an unable to open his eyes last Wednesday, but after eventually accepting he had passed away, she was left speechless when she got the call to say that he was actually alive.
It’s believed that Frank had gone into cold-shock, but it is unclear as to why this is the case as he was surrounded by several personal heat lamps.
Upon finding Frank slumped over a wooden log in his cage, Larissa feared the worst and then spent the next few hours trying to warm him up by wrapping him in a blanket and putting him near a radiator, but unfortunately, this was not proving effective.
Frank was then put in a box and collected by staff from Legacy Pets Cremation Services in Bury, but later that afternoon, there was a twist in the tale.
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While being checked over, Frank started to twitch and opened his eyes.
Relaying the course of events, a Legacy Pets Cremation Services spokesperson said: “Of course, we were startled by this, but took it upon ourselves to contact a reptile expert who advised us that Frank may have become too cold and so his body had put itself in a state of ‘cold-shock’, where they appear to be deceased but they are actually still alive.”
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Staff at the crematorium then placed heaters around the iguana and watched Frank become more alert as time went on, before informing his owners.
By the time Larissa and her mother came to collect him, Frank had perked up and was alert.
Frank was then taken to a veterinary clinic in Chorlton and was kept in overnight in order to try and understand how this remarkable situation could have come about, but they remained baffled and couldn’t seem to pinpoint exactly why he appeared to be dead for hours.
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He has quite-rightly been described as a “miracle” by everyone involved.
And he’s now enjoying his new lease of life back at home with his housemates and exotic animal-lover Larissa’s other pets, including a Burmese python, a rainbow boa, a common boa constrictor, a dwarf sungazer lizard, three types of geckos, a frog and a rabbit.
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Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Emily Sergeant -
15th February 2021 
