New word? And other stuff.

I've been hearing a new word recently, I caught it again on TV this morning - mumf (or possibly mumph) at first I thought it might be some sort of new coffee drink "I'm goin' for a mumf"; or possibly an amount "About a mumf", but with combining the snippets and from additional context it appears to be referring to a time-period. I'm unsure, but I would hazard a guess that it's longer then a fortnight, perhaps about the same length of time as a month.

Orange sun peeping over the horizon, biting wind, frozen puddles; I went back to get my gloves - hello Winter.

Well I'm sure we're all aware of the beached ship in Devon, what I find interesting is the time-line of events.

• Thursday 18th January - MSC Napoli takes in water as she travels through the Channel, despite storm force winds the crew are successfully airlifted off. The European Maritime and Safety Agency state that the vessel is listed as carrying "dangerous cargo". Plans are made to tow it to a port.
• Friday 19th January - Vessel is under tow, decisions as to a destination not yet made.
• Saturday 20th January - Ship waits in Lyme Bay for winds to settle. With the original damage increasing the decision is taken to beach her near Branscombe. Plans to salvage the oil and remove the most dangerous containers are made. Approximately 50 containers go overboard.
• Sunday 21st January - The Maritime and Coastguard Agency state that after consultation with the Devon police they're asking members of the public to stay away from the containers and to contact the coastguards if one is found. One of the containers is reported to contain hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of BMW motorcycles.
• Monday 22nd January - Beach-combers flock to the beach, salvaging motorcycles, casks of wine, perfume, and car-parts. Provided that all items recovered are reported within 28 days this is perfectly legal. Police draft in extra officers to patrol the area and hand out report forms. They ensure that unopened containers remain intact and have closed all roads leading to the nearby village.
• Tuesday 23rd January - Police close the beach to allow contractors to tidy-up. Talking about the beach-combers a spokesman for the MCA stated that "had warnings not to touch the containers been followed, they would have been removed and the beach returned to normality quite soon... People are lighting fires beside the containers, getting on top of them ripping stuff out, and not heeding our warnings. The MCA is deeply upset and angry because all the stuff which has been ripped out of the containers will be swept out to sea and have an environmental impact"

So the media reports that goods worth thousands of pounds have just washed up on a beach and people have descended upon it; who'd have thunk it? Now I agree that the priority was to get the oil and dangerous containers out of the ship safely, but did no-one stop to think that perhaps closing the beach off just for a while might be a good idea? Are we talking cross-jurisdiction here - the MCA liaising with Devon police to shut down a National Trust owned beach proving problematic? Now if there are legal complications, then one wonders what authority was invoked to shut the village roads down?