WHEN NOT TO SMILE.

Once again a weekly round up of the newspapers starting with:-

Thursday.

What are the odds of this happening?

A chef has lost all of her possessions after her flatmate loaded them into the wrong car, which was then driven off.

Faye Pounder, 25, was moving house when her flatmate offered to carry her bags downstairs and load them into her car. But he mistakenly opened the boot of an identical car parked outside their flat which had been left unlocked. - The Daily Telegraph.

And so onto Saturday and the Sun.

Nothing like service with a smile.

Workers have been banned from ...... smiling at customers with parking complaints - in case it 'winds them up'.

Staff  dismissed the order imposed on them as laughable (with a) union representative adding "Smiling's the best way of defusing a conflict situation."

You couldn't make these next two stories up but they are true - honest!

A dinner plate that can flavour food to your taste has been unveiled by scientists.

Diners can programme a microchip in the dish using smartphone apps. Invisible channels in it then carry tiny droplets of flavour to the food.

Sick of noisy popcorn eaters at the cinema? Then this could well be the answer ..... then again perhaps not.

A biodegradable crisp packet has been abandoned because consumers said it was too noisy.

Frito-Lay, the American snack maker, will switch back to plastic packaging for five of its six SunChips flavours after receiving complaints that the new bags, which are made from plants, were too stiff and too loud.

The new packaging spawned FaceBook groups such as 'I wanted SunChips but my room-mate was sleeping' and 'Nothing is louder than a SunChips bag.'

And in Sunday's Sunday Telegraph .....

We all know that today's youngsters are maturing a lot quicker but I hadn't thought about the affect it could have on ....... choirboys.

For centuries, the great choral works have been sung by boy choristers, spellbinding congregations in Britain's ancient cathedrals.

But now choirs say they face a growing and seemingly unstoppable threat - their choristers' voices are breaking earlier. Growing numbers of boy singers, known as trebles, are having to leave prematurely because they can no longer sing the high notes. Instead of singing until the age of 15 or 16, many now stop at 13 or even younger.

Experts believe the trend is caused by changes in modern diets, which have caused an earlier onset of puberty. - Jasper Copping and Graham Mole. (FULL ARTICLE)

They may be too old to be a choirboy but are they too old to want to have this years must-have Christmas gift?

Yes, it's that time of year again. The schools have only been back a matter of weeks after the summer break, we are yet to celebrate Halloween let alone Bon Fire Night and already the shops are full of Christmas gifts with this years must-have toy being ....... Dave. (click HERE for video presentation.)

It is not the most sophisticated toy on anyone's Christmas gift list.

But a robotic monkey that can wave, laugh and burp is poised to be this year's festive sell-out toy, hunted on the high street by anxious parents.

Dave the Funky Shoulder monkey, remote-controlled with a repertoire of rude gestures, has been tipped as a Christmas favourite by several toy shops.

Its creators, an independent British toymaking firm, have warned that they cannot supply enough of the toy to satisfy demand. the £25 gadget could follow the likes of Buzz Lightyear and Go-go Hamsters in becoming the annual toy which every parent wants but no parent can buy. - Alaister Jamieson.