Yesterday was a ...

Good Day for Devon, as a Royal Mail survey found that the holiday romances that are most likely to lead to lead to a prolonged correspondence are those that began in Devon. Londoners are the most likely to keep their love letters, but also most likely to hide them from their current partners.

Bad Day for US-Iran relations, as the mayor of the Iranian city of Shiraz confirmed that American snakes would form part of an exhibition of snakes from 22 countries. This is seen as one of the more positive signs since diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off in 1980.

Good Day for Cookie, a stray dog in St Louis that is now recovering after spending five days with a bubble-gum jar stuck on its head.

Bad Day for excuses, as the head of surgery at a Hong Kong hospital apologised for a colleague's error in removing a young girl's Fallopian tube which he had thought was her appendix. "We all make mistakes," he said.

Bad Day for `Baywatch', as six prisoners escaped from jail in New Mexico while the guards and other inmates were distracted by watching the programme. A prison official said that no limitations would be put on Baywatch in future. "It was only a coincidence. It could have been Monday Night Football and Tampa Bay scored finally," he said.

Bad Day for garden gnomes, which came 10th - just below noisy love-making - in a NatWest survey of the top 10 items of most irritating behaviour in one's neighbours.