The ticket inspector
After this story was on the BBC, several people wrote in
with their stories about being helped by strangers.
I was living in a student flat in North London, when the police
knocked on my door one night. I thought it was because I hadn't
paid the rent for a few months, so I didn't open the door. But then I
wondered if it was something to do with my mother, who I knew
wasn't very well. There was no phone in the flat and this was before
the days of mobile phones, so I ran dawn to the nearest phone box
and phoned my dad in Leeds, in the north of England. He told me
that my mum was very ill in hospital and that I should go home as
soon as I could.
When I got to the station I found that I'd missed the last train to
Leeds. There was a train to Peterborough, from where some local
trains went to Leeds, but I would miss the connection by about 20
minutes. I decided to get the Peterborough train - I was so
desperate to get home that I thought maybe I could hitchhike from
Peterborough .
"Tickets, please." I looked up and saw the ticket inspector. He could
see from my eyes that I'd been crying, "Are you OK?" he asked. Of
course I'm OK," I said. "You look awful," he continued. 'Is there
anything I can do?" "You could go away. I said rudely.
But he didn't. He sat down and said If there's a problem, I'm here to
help. The only thing I could think of was to tell him my story. When I
finished I said, 'So now you know. I'm a bit upset and I don't feel like
talking any more. OK?" "OK," he said, finally getting up. I'm sorry to
hear that, son. I hope you make it home."
Shoe shops discover matching crimes
Swedish fictional detectives like Wallander and Lisbeth Salander
are famous worldwide. But recently real-life Swedish police were
completely puzzled by a mysterious crime. Somebody was stealing
expensive designer shoes from shoe shops in Sweden - but not
pairs of shoes, only the left shoes, the ones which were on display.
The first robbery took place in a shopping mall in Malmö, Sweden's
third-largest city. Staff at a shoe shop saw two men stealing at their
boutique. They escaped with seven left shoes which — if paired
with the right shoes — were worth £900.
In the end it was shop assistants who pointed the police in the right
direction — to Denmark, where shops traditionally display the right
shoe in their shop windows.
"We noticed that left shoes were disappearing in the past, but we
never caught the thieves," said a shop assistant.
"Since we know that Danish stores display the right shoes, we
thought that the matching shoes were probably disappearing as
well in stores in Denmark." Malmö, home to 125 shoe shops, is only
a 30-minute train ride away from Copenhagen, which has several
hundred shops, and many brands are sold in both cities.
Yesterday police finally announced that they had arrested the men
responsible for the robberies. But Ms Johansson, a Swedish shoe
shop owner, fears that shoe shop robberies will increase this year.
"Shoes are attractive to steal - they are easy to move and easy to
sell and they have become very expensive lately. Also many stores
have cut the number of shop assistants they employ." Police in
Malmo have thought of asking Danish shoe shops to also display
the left shoe. But this won't work. All the thieves will have to do is
move to Germany - where they also display the right shoe…
Mood food
We live in a stressful world, and daily life can sometimes
make us feel tired, stressed, or depressed. Some people
go to the doctor's for help, others try alternative therapies,
but the place to find a cure could be somewhere
completely different: in the kitchen.
Dr Paul Clayton, a food expert from Middlesex University, says
"The brain is affected by what you eat and drink, just like every
other part of your body. Certain types of food contain substances
which affect how you think and feel."
For example, food which is high in carbohydrates can make us feel
more relaxed. It also makes us feel happy. Research has shown
that people on diets often begin to feel a little depressed after two
weeks because they are eating fewer carbohydrates.
On the other hand, food which is rich in protein makes us feel
awake and focused. Research has shown that schoolchildren who
eat a high- protein breakfast often do better at school than children
whose breakfast is lower in protein. Also, eating the right kind of
meal at lunchtime can make a difference if you have an exam in the
afternoon or a business meeting where you need to make some
quick decisions. In an experiment for a BBC TV programme two
chess players, both former British champions, had different meals
before playing each other. Paul had a plate of prosciutto and salad
(full of protein from the red meat), and his opponent Terry had pasta
with a creamy sauce (full of carbohydrate). In the chess match Terry
felt sleepy, and took much longer than Paul to make decisions
about what moves to make. The experiment was repeated several
times with the same result.
Another powerful mood food could become a secret weapon in the
fight against crime. In Bournemouth in the south of England, where
late-night violence can be a problem, some nightclub owners have
come up with a solution. They give their clients free chocolate at the
end of the night. The results have been dramatic, with a 60%
reduction in violent incidents.
Why does chocolate make people less aggressive? First, it causes
the brain to release feel-good chemicals called endorphins. It also
contains a lot of sugar, which gives you energy, and can help stop
late-night tiredness turning into aggression. These two things,
together with delicious taste, make chocolate a powerful mood
changer.
