talk about “ stuff that gets sad when thrown out of a pram”.

a benevolent soul, you most probably would not have walked past on the other side of the road ; you no doubt would have rescued that sad bear from the puddle and sat it somewhere noticeable in case its relatives came looking for it.

if your child has a favourite bear / toy / comfort blanket / whatever, then you must take steps to protect it from loss and make sure it has a lost toys recovery service chip embedded below its surface.

the finder takes the toy home and phones the telephone number of the lost toys recovery service which can be found on a small label sewn onto the toy. then, he/she holds the toy to the phone and the computer chip sends the GPS position of the lost toy/beloved object to the lost toys recovery service who immediately despatch a jiffy bag to this address with a small reward inside for the finder.

the toy is deposited inside the jiffy bag and posted back to its rightful owner.

a company spokesperson said: "the chip does it all for you by sending a binary message. trials in Japan have worked very well.”