Women spend a year deciding what to wear 

Women spend almost a year of their lives deciding what to wear, according to a new study.
Choosing outfits for work, nights out, dinner parties, holidays and other activities means the average female will spend 287 days rifling through their wardrobe.
Clothes retailer Matalan compiled the results after polling 2,491 women, reports the Daily Telegraph.
A spokesman said: "What you wear has a direct impact on how you feel about yourself and it is important a woman feels exceptional in her outfit.
"Whatever the occasion your clothes portray an image and we understand this is fundamentally important to women."
The study, which was based on the adult years from the age of 16 to 60, found most women spend around 20 minutes deciding what to wear before hitting the town on a weekend night.
Week nights out can take up to 20 minutes a time too. Deciding on what clothes to take on holiday uses up to 52 minutes each time.
While on holiday, ten minutes a morning will be taken up trying to find an acceptable outfit with another ten minutes spent picking evening clothes.
On top of that dinner parties, Christmas parties and black tie events - at around 36 minutes a time six times a year - adds up to three and a half days.
The study also found on average women will try on two outfits each morning before coming to a final decision. And one in two women spend 15 minutes the night before work working out what to wear.


Exam students can 'phone a friend'

School pupils in Austria are being given a phone-a-friend lifeline during exams to boost their results.
Teacher Reinhard Peter - inspired by Who Wants to be a Millionaire - allows students to call a series of experts if they're stumped by questions at his high school in Bregenz.
He said: "They can call doctors, teachers and other people to ask their help."
But he said the experts were often more nervous about the exams and getting the right answers than the students.
Mr Peter said: "Many of them suddenly have exam anxiety as though they were sitting in the classroom taking the exam.
"They get nervous on the phone and feel that if they give the wrong answer they are not only failing themselves but the pupil who is calling them as well."
He said that so far all his pupils had passed the exams though using the phone-a-friend lifeline.
"The worst mark any of them have got is 'satisfactory'," he said.


Woman marries dog

A Ghanaian woman has married her dog because it has qualities she had seen only in her late father.
Emily Mabou, 29, of Aburi, married the 18-month-old dog in a ceremony attended by a traditional priest and local, curious villagers, reports the Daily Dose.
Her younger brother David Mabou said her family boycotted the wedding which they felt was "a stupid step to combat her loneliness".
But Ms Mabou said: "For so long, I've been praying for a life partner who will have all the qualities of my dad. My dad was kind, faithful, and loyal to my mum, and he never let her down.
"I've been in relationships with so many men here in Togo, and they are all the same - skirt-chasers and cheaters. My dog is kind, and loyal to me and he treats me with so much respect."
In the ceremony, the priest warned villagers not to mock the wedding, but to "rejoice with her as she has found happiness at last".
Asked how she intends to raise children with her new husband, Ms Mabou said simply: "We will adopt."

Love's young dream

Two 81-year-olds have tied the knot in Bristol - 65 years after they first fell in love.
Michael Fitter and Mary Oaten met in London in the last years of the war, reports the Daily Mail.
Both their fathers were in business in the city and the couple went to the same Anglican church in the Hayes Bromley area of south London.
Michael even popped the question back then, but he said that at that time "it wasn't to be".
They stayed in touch mainly by Christmas cards over the years, after both married other people.
But Michael said he always had a place in his heart for his childhood sweetheart, and when they were both widowed last year, they started to see each other again.
Their love blossomed and the couple married at St Dunstan's RC Church, in Keynsham, before a reception for 50 friends and family.
Michael said: "I love her very much. We are totally suited. I asked her to marry me 65 years ago, but that wasn't to be.
"I've always carried a little flame in my heart for her. When we both became single, I quickly realised that this is the person for me.
"We have so much in common - the same spiritual values, the same business outlook. We laugh and joke and are both on the same lines."