So to celebrate my return to the airwaves we reported on two stories which I hope will make you smile.

First off from Falmouth came news of the third annual Falmouth Worm Charming Championships was recently held in Cornwall which saw hundreds of worms enticed up to the surface.

The skill is also known as worm grunting or worm fiddling.

In nature worms come to the surface when they can feel the vibrations of raindrops hitting the ground.

Birds imitate this by pecking at the ground or stamping their feet – but humans have a variety of methods including playing instruments, banging garden forks, dancing vigorously, or by simply asking very politely for the worms to surface.

This year saw competitors manage to charm 260 worms out of the ground – a massive increase on last year, which was held during a heatwave and only saw one solitary worm reach the surface.

Teams are given a two-metre square plot of grass and are expected to charm worms out within 30 minutes, without digging or using mechanical tools.

The motto for this year’s event, which received Arts Council and Feast funding, was “charm but don’t harm” proved a major attraction with worm portraits, worm tattoos, merchandise on offer and had a brass band entertaining crowds.

The winning team charmed 20 worms in half an hour – but they’re far behind the current world record.

That achievement was set by 10-year-old Sophie Smith in 2009 who charmed 567 worms during Britain’s World Worm Charming Championship.

And then from further afield, in Japan, as it happens, we learnt that people there have become so used to wearing face masks during the pandemic that they are having to sign up for lessons to teach them how to smile again.

Many people wouldn’t be seen in public without a mask, with the practice becoming near-universal after the virus emerged more than three years ago, that they suddenly realised they had rather forgotten how to go about life without them.

So Himawari Yoshida and her classmates, mostly young people, have hired the services of a “smile instructor”, Keiko Kawano, who in one exercise has them hold up mirrors to their faces, stretching the sides of their mouths with their fingers.

M/s Kawano’s  company Egaoiku – literally “Smile Education” – has seen a four-fold increase in demand for lessons, including one-on-one sessions that cost 7,700 yen (£44) – so I guess she’s smiling. She believes that Japanese nationals are less inclined to smile than Westerners because of their sense of security as an island country, “I think there’s a growing need for people to smile which signifies that I’m not holding a gun, and I’m not a threat to you,” 

So there you have it!

Hopefully I shall return tomorrow from 1, still grinning from ear to ear.
Scott