Interesting Facts

What do flip flops, wrist bands and space blankets have in common? They are all on offer to drunks around the UK. (In Torquay, Devon, drunk women are handed flip-flops to wear, prompted by fears that by wearing stilettos or similar footwear whilst drunk they could tumble over and hurt themselves. Space blankets are handed out in Gloucester to help prevent hypothermia (alcohol can lower the body temperature). In Cardiff, Wales, young people who drink too much are given a lift home and given a yellow wristband asking: "How did you get home last night?" Ingeniously the wrist bands will also have a bar code which they will be able to scan to read about their night's revels. Only in the UK.)

According to research from Cardiff University in Wales, chewing gum is good for the brain. (Chewing boosts thinking and alertness and reaction times among chewers are up to 10 per cent faster. Volunteers carried out tasks while chewing and not chewing gum as their brains were scanned to see which areas were active. During the 30-minute tests participants pressed a button with their right or left thumb in response to the direction of an arrow on a screen. Men and women who were not chewing took 545 milliseconds to react, compared with 493 milliseconds among the chewers. The brain regions most active during chewing were those involved with movement and attention. The act of chewing leads to the production of higher levels of insulin, which stimulates areas of the brain. That's something to chew on, and it might explain why I used to chew my pen at school.  I was improving my ability to concentrate.) Source

The shortest cycle path in the UK is just 8 feet (2.5 metres) long. (That's about the length of two pedal cycles. You can see this wonder of the modern world on the Ridgeway in Plymouth.  Plymouth council insist that it is there to save cyclists’ lives. A spokesperson said: “The red area marks where the off-road pedestrian and cycle route ends and cyclists join traffic. “It is designed to alert motorists to cyclists joining the road, as well as give cyclists the space to do so safely.” And if you think this is a one-off, think again.  There's one in Wales - on a road in Cardiff, that is one inch longer. It makes me proud to be British.)  

According to http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/press-releases/voucher-mad-britain/0007241/ , more than 1,500 vouchers are redeemed in UK every minute. (That's 2.23 million discount vouchers every day, and this saves Brits, on average, £2.7 billion every year.  Across the country the figures vary, Londoners seem to be the keenest; here is the City Savings League:- City Monthly saving London £71 Cardiff £65 Edinburgh £60 Liverpool £57 Manchester £51 In Germany there aren't as many voucher offers, I guess because Aldi couldn't cut their margins without going the same way as Schlecker.)

Shoe injuries are on the rise in the UK. (Half a dozen women are admitted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff during weekend evenings suffering from them. The moral of this story is that drink and stilettos don't mix.)