yesterday was a ...

Good Day for the US Postal Service, which has accepted a dozen pigs' ears, dried out, with stamps attached, that had been dropped in a mailbox and addressed to Mike Tyson. A spokeswoman described them as "the weirdest things I've ever seen" and a postman said: "As long as it's not over 108in in length and girth and it's under 70lb, and the postage is good, we'll try to deliver it. The only things we won't mail for you are cats, dogs and kids, no matter how much you'd like to send them."

Bad Day for kleptomania, as Andrew Rickards pleaded guilty at Gloucester Magistrates Court to stealing a chicken and a bottle of wine from a supermarket, and asked for 2,308 similar offences to be taken into account.

Revealing Day for business travel, as a survey for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts of executives who travel a good deal on business reported that 1 per cent have been arrested while they were away, 2 per cent have been fired, 3 per cent have seen war break out, 11 per cent have had to go to hospital abroad, 16 per cent have had a parking ticket, more than 60 per cent have lost their luggage and 84 per cent miss their families.