15 pieces of news to make you smile:

Life really is hard at the moment, isn’t it? Last week was definitely a bit of a struggle for me. I tend to be a positive person and try to find the best in every situation. I will have a positive attitude for anything and everything (people who know me will vouch for me on this one). However, I have been in a bit of a mental slump. This week I have tried to renew my positive outlook on things. This has been especially tricky as one of my neighbours has hired an arborist to saw down a tree and the sawing has been non-stop for the past couple of days, so that has definitely put me in a considerably worse mood than usual, as the noise was very annoying. However, other than that small inconvenience, I have started to feel a bit more like myself. 

For this blog post I have decided to compile together a list of news articles that made me smile and lifted my mood and made me realise that life at the moment still does have its silver linings. I hope this will make you smile as much as it did for me.

1. I thought I’d start this list with this news story that I saw recently. It read that a  mum and daughter, in Warwickshire, have been dressing up in fancy dress each time they go on their lockdown walk. They’ve dressed up as pirates, disney characters and my personal favourite: Harry Potter characters (see picture below). I think this is such a brilliant idea and will surely bring up anyone's morale and spirits if they saw these two beauties out on their walks. The mum confesses that she is greeting people, from an appropriate distance of course, that she’s never met or spoken to before in her neighbourhood. I think this is so fabulous which is why I just HAD to add this in. It certainly brought a smile to my face, so I hope it did for you too.

2. To stick to the Harry Potter theme: Daniel Radcliffe, who plays that of Harry Potter for those who have been living under a rock, reads chapter one of “The Philosopher’s Stone’ by J.K. Rowling. This is then followed up by the likes of Eddie Redmayne, Stephen Fry, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning to name a few. The full video can be found online through Rowling’s Wizarding World website. Being an avid Harry Potter fan myself this brings me SO much joy! I would HIGHLY recommend you go give it a watch as it really did brighten up my day when I watched it. Also a fantastic way of reading a book without having to physically read it yourself.

3. Thirdly, I thought I would present you with this piece of good news: I read that lots of bus stops in the Dutch city of Utrecht, have been turned into safe havens for bees. They have apparently now transformed more than three hundred of their bus stops.These “bee stops” now have green roofs planted mainly with sedum, which is a drought-resistant plant favoured by pollinators, which also captures dust and rainwater. These new bee-friendly bus stops are cared for by a team of workers who check on the bees regularly. This particular piece of news really did make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Firstly, due to the fact that some of my family are of dutch heritage so it feels close to home. Additionally, the initial act of saving bees should be highly encouraged. They are an important part of the survival of our ecosystems. 

4. This next piece of news made me feel happy about our human society.  Some people across the UK have gone out of their way to paint several post boxes blue. This being to say a huge thank you to the NHS staff who are currently saving lives during this global pandemic. These post boxes also have 'Thank you NHS' emblazoned on the side in white paint.There are currently five across the UK with one in Cardiff, Wales, another near St Thomas hospital in London, one in Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast.

5. I promise these won’t all be COVID-19 related. However, when reading this one I just knew I had to add it to this list. Most of you have probably already heard, or read this one: but on the 23rd April 2020, the first human trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine got underway from the University of Oxford. Scientists working on the vaccine say the injection they are developing has an 80% chance of success. This further highlights my previous points in previous blog posts that this pandemic cannot last forever, that there is some hope.

6. This next piece of news really did make me chuckle. A 90 year old woman decided she would be creative in her house as she was running and advertised to her neighbours that she was out of booze. This pensioner, from Pennsylvania, was pictured holding a whiteboard that said: "I NEED MORE BEER!". I commend her for her top efforts. People will really do anything for those they love. She really is truly iconic. Someone who we should all look up to.

7. Now this is one of my personal favourites, any cat lovers out there this is piece of news for you. In Mexico a stray cat was spotted across the road from a corner shop. This cat started following someone who went into this corner shop. Whereupon, this stray cat more specifically took this person to the  pet food aisle - and pointed at the meal that they wanted. Apparently, this cat was a regular at the shop and the stray understood specific hours and often did this with customers hoping they would take pity and buy him food. This person then decided to adopt this stray cat, after finding out it lived in an abandoned house, and named it Rabbit. How amazing is this? This particular reminisce with me as I have a cat called Ruby and if she had the chance she would do this, she would do anything for extra snacks.

8. This one is for all you superhero fans: volunteers were seen clad as Superman and Spider-Man on Indonesia’s island of Java. They were seen spraying disinfectant in the streets against the virus. They were seen shouting: “Wear masks, wash hands and stay alert.” I think this is truly heartwarming and shows such a sense of solidarity, in such a creative and innovative way.

9.  I do seem to always talk about cake in my blog posts. This is no exception: A Helsinki bakery has saved itself from financial ruin due to the new coronavirus pandemic by creating a cake that looks like a toilet roll. The resemblance is extremely remarkable.The dismayed staff at the Ronttosrouva bakery found all their orders cancelled last month, at the same time as panicked consumers began to hoard toilet roll. This sparked the idea of a toilet roll cake made of oat batter, passion fruit mousse and covered with white fondant…. You may not want to use this whilst going to the toilet though, even if you are desperate. 

10. This next piece of good news made me realise that dogs really are clever. This Norfolk RSPCA rescue dog has been joining the nation to clap for carers during the coronavirus outbreak. If that doesn’t bring a smile on your face then I really don’t know what will.

11.  I am sure you have all heard this next piece of fabulous news. However, I felt like it still deserves a feature on this list as it really has stuck with me from the onset. Coronavirus: In absence of humans, the penguins are free to roam around the aquarium to visit other animals. Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium treats rockhopper penguins to a rare stroll around outside of their enclosure. When I watched the full video I knew I had to share it with everybody. 

12. A Perth secondary school has shared a special sci-fi assembly in honour of Star Wars Day. He made the clip with footage from the films, and downloadable content from the Star Wars website.The video shows dancing stormtroopers in the school’s assembly hall, and massive At-At walkers patrolling the playground. The teacher said he wanted to keep his pupils' spirits up.

13. These next couple pieces of news are of the odd nature. This one made me chuckle due to the fact of it being so obscure: A fire crew was called out to rescue a donkey, called Daniel, who had got his hoof stuck in a kettle.The fire crew, from Whitby, used pliers to release Daniel's hoof and left him with his owner. This begs the question of what was the donkey doing with a kettle in the first place? Did it just fancy a cup of tea?

14. This news story made me laugh as it’s so absurd. So, enjoy: A man in Spain decided to take his goldfish for a walk to exploit lockdown rules. He was seen sitting on a park bench with his pet goldfish in a bowl besides him. He decided to do this despite the rule of not taking pets for a walk. How wonderfully weird, right? Lockdown really is getting to people now.

15. I’m going to leave this on a bit of a more personal victory! The noise of the sawing has finally gone as the tree has been fully cut down! YAY! No more headaches for me!

I hope this managed to bring a smile on your face. Let me know in the comments which your favourite piece of news was in this post. Also, let me know what good news you’ve heard. Let’s continue with the smiles.

*Sidenote* Thank you for all the love and support for the blog so far. Your kind words and feedback is much appreciated.