Space Hopper to the rescue!

I have never heard such a thing as Space Hopper before. According to the Wikipedia:

The term "space hopper" is more common in the UK; the toy is less familiar in the United States, and may be known as a "hoppity hop" or some other name.

That explains this recent rescue story from U.K. reported in mirror.co,uk News:

A freak wave washed Charlotte Wright, 15, and her friend Hannah Woolacott 16, off the pier in Dawlish, Devon, on Saturday.

Their screams alerted Matthew Gribble, Andrew Riches and Leigh Larratt, all 24, who called the coastguard then raced to the rescue. The lads threw a lifebuoy but it didn't reach the girls. So quick-thinking Matt flung out a Space Hopper that a neighbour had brought out.

Charlotte and Hannah grabbed the toy, got to the lifebuoy and held on until Exmouth inshore lifeboat arrived.

Leigh said yesterday: "The Space Hopper saved the day. Matt got it right next to the girls and they got hold of it for long enough to get to the lifebuoy.

"They were fighting for their lives.

The sea was really rough and they kept going under."

Matt added: "I threw the Space Hopper into the air and gave it a good punch. Luckily it landed within two feet of them - they were quite far out, around 20 metres from the seawall.

"We knew help was on the way and we just screamed at the girls to keep their heads up out of the water. But the younger girl was blue in the face and looked really bad."

Two lifeboat crews and a rescue helicopter were scrambled. Helmsman Giles White said "Any longer and we would have been pulling out bodies."

The best part of the story is of course this:

Both girls were treated in an Exeter hospital and later released.

Thank God for that! All's well that ends well -- it's good to have a space hopper around!

By the way here's what a space hopper looks like: