Homes in lanes tend to be worth a fifth more than the average house price, research has found.
A property with the word ‘Lane’ in its address has an average value of £245,906, which is 22% or £44,660 more than the typical UK house price, at £201,246, according to research for Barclays Mortgages.
A home at an address containing the word ‘Way’ was found to be the next most valuable, with a price tag of £218,742 on average, followed by a property with the word ‘Road’ in its address, which is worth £212,717 typically.
End of the line for missing wallet
A wallet which had been missing for more than 30 years has been returned to its owner – complete with all of its original contents.
Containing an old £1 note and a handful of coins, the wallet was found down the back of a seat in a carriage undergoing restoration at the North Norfolk Railway.
Train driver Michael Massey turned detective to track down its owner, equipped only with old documents carrying the name “Derek B Gamble” and an out-of-date address in Rugby, Warwickshire.
Laughing online is LOL no more
When it comes to expressions of laughter on social media, it seems the humble acronym LOL – “laugh out loud” – is laughing no more.
Facebook examined a week’s worth of comments to its social network to find out how people are laughing on the internet.
The results make sobering reading for lovers of LOL – just 1.9% of posts contained the acronym. Instead people are resorting to emojis, the colourful smiley faces of text language, and “hehe”. But leading the way by far in the laughter stakes is the old-fashioned “haha”.
China bans songs from websites
China has released a blacklist of songs it says promote obscenity or violence and ordered websites to remove them from their sites.
The order from the Ministry of Culture accompanied the list of 120 songs that “trumpeted obscenity, violence, crime or harmed social morality”. The list contains Chinese-language songs, and some are by household names in China, including Taiwanese pop singer Chang Csun Yuk and actor Stanley Huang.
Chang’s blacklisted songs include Fart, with the line “There are some people in the world who like farting while doing nothing”. The list will be updated regularly.
49kg of cocaine found in squid
Italian customs police have seized 49 kilos (108lb) of pure cocaine hidden in a container transporting frozen totani, a kind of squid, on a cargo ship from Argentina.
Reggio Calabria prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho said that the cocaine, if sold on the street, would have raked in more than €10 million (£7.6 million). No arrests were immediately announced in connection with the seizure.
The cocaine was discovered in Gioia Tauro, a port considered largely under the sway of the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate. Investigators say the Calabria-based ‘ndrangheta is by far the biggest trafficker of cocaine in Europe. The prosecutor said police and customs officials have been intensifying controls in the port.
Paraglider chased after jail flight
A man in a powered paraglider has caused a brief mid-air police chase after flying past a jail in California.
A sheriff’s helicopter began pursuing the aircraft after prison officials at Los Angeles County’s Pitchess Detention Centre spotted the fly-by. The 67-year-old pilot at first did not obey orders to stop, but landed a few minutes later near a paintball playing field.
The pilot said he had not heard them due to the motorised fan at the back, adding the winds took him near the prison. Authorities say they were still investigating, but the man had no contraband, was not spotted dropping anything and was not arrested or cited.