And because he was able to jettison himself across the lake at 32 miles per hour, he achieved a new world record, even if he got soaked right afterward.
They are not perfect ovals--like the egg in the Columbus story they are both crushed flat at the contact end--but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead.
It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead.
The machines, you know, the people, the atmosphere, it's all so different from the everyday hustle and bustle and, you know, most people have hundreds of airplanes fly over their heads all day long.
He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped over head.