SOMETHING was clearly lost in translation in the Castle Street branch of recruitment agency Brook Street.

An eagle-eyed Gossip reader recently spotted a couple of ads in their window for multi-lingual sales people.

One requested speakers fluent in English (a pre-requisite we would have thought), Dutch, Norwegian, Czech or Swiss, while the other was looking for someone familiar with Dutch, Swiss or German.

Now, the last time Gossip yodelled its way through the goatherds on the grassy uplands of the land famous for its clocks and cheese we encountered many speakers of Switzerland’s main languages of German, French and Italian, and possibly, even, Romansh, but definitely no Swiss speakers. It’s almost enough to send you cuckoo.

HALLOWE’EN is fast approaching and a survey from Liverpool-based online retailer Woolworths is revealing some fascinating facts.

Apparently, it’s not the ghosts and the ghouls, above, that should scare us but the cost to both our wallets and waistlines.

The survey claims Hallowe’en is now the second most popular family occasion behind Christmas. Annual spend has grown 2,300% since 2001 and now totals a whopping £280m.

It also reveals that 64% of children will take to the streets around October 31 for an evening of trick or treating with a potential 24,900,000 doors being knocked on.

More than half of parents will join in the fun this Hallowe’en and accompany their kids as they walk their neighbourhoods dressed as ghouls, ghosts and wizards

And it shows that on average each parent will attend four parties this year and will consume 1,231 calories from traditional foods.