Peter Rhodes on fake meat, a lost fortune and a Welsh claim on the Big Apple

The simple answer is that people are not at all like dogs. Out walking, as a rule, humans do not roll in fox poo, drink from puddles, stick noses into strangers' bottoms or eat decaying animals. 

We are much more discriminating than dogs and if something looks grim and doesn't smell quite right, we steer well clear. Unless, of course, it's a burger.

Still on grub, can meat ever be too meaty? Consider the latest full-page Tesco “Tender” ads for their best beef. 

A massive, scarlet slab of prime steak glistens on the page. The idea, presumably, is to stir our inner caveman but I wonder how many of us take one look at this orgy of prime plump protein and have a sudden yearning for - a nice nut roast.

If you're going to have an obsession in your life, at least make sure it's a magnificent obsession. 

Take James Howells from Newport, South Wales, who believes his £620 million worth of Bitcoin, on a hard drive mistakenly chucked out 12 years ago, is buried in a local tip. 

So far, his legal attempts to get access to the site or compensation have failed but he's back now with a plan to buy the entire tip and hunt through 1.4 million tonnes of waste in the search for his missing fortune. This is like looking for a needle in a haystack without even knowing there's a needle. Good luck to him.

I find myself reminded of another Welsh treasure hunt, the strange and enduring claim by some members of the extended Edwards family that they are the rightful heirs to a 77-acre slice of New York's Manhattan. Now worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the land was given to a Welsh pirate, Robert Edwards, by Queen Anne in the 18th century.

Like the Loch Ness monster, the Edwards' claim is one of those stories that pops up in the news from time to time and then vanishes. As far as I'm aware, not a cent has been paid by Manhattan to the hopeful Edwards clan, although a few lawyers are rumoured to have made a quick buck.