Finding light in the darkness
16th May 2020
I know that I don’t need to preface this blog post with acknowledging the utter shit show that the last few months have been. You all know that. You’ve all experienced it. Every. Single. Day. And while I think it is incredibly important to recognise and accept all of our very valid feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly, I also think there is something to be said for finding the good stuff where possible. Because if we don’t, what exactly are we left with? So for this weeks post, I’ve decided to bring you a slither of positivity. A few news stories from around the world to help you remember that while things can feel really tough right now, there is still good.
- Last month, at the age of 99, Second World War veteran Captain Tom Moore raised over £32 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.
- Since the 26th of March, the UK has joined forces to support Clap for Our Carers, a recurring gesture at 8pm every Thursday night where people stand at their front doors or back gardens to applaud the NHS and other key workers during the pandemic. I promise you, it never stops being emotional.
- In a modern-day version of Romeo & Juliet, an Italian couple who struck up a corona romance across their balconies in Verona, Northern Italy have now been able to meet one another after Italy started to relax its restrictions. The couple met in a local park for a hug and a kiss. The couple are already making plans to move in together.
- After requesting for volunteers to help deliver food and medication to vulnerable people, drive patients to appointments and make befriending phone calls, the Royal Voluntary Service received over 750,000 applications, so many that they’ve had to temporarily pause the scheme.
- In India, less human activity as a result of the virus led Flamingos to delay their annual migration to flock to lakes in cities such as Mumbai in vast numbers.
- María Branyas has made history as not only Spain’s oldest woman at 113, but by also being the country’s oldest coronavirus survivor after being diagnosed last month. Go María!
- As a result of the outbreak, the International Energy Agency has revealed a decline in global energy demand, equivalent to India’s total annual consumption. This will cut global carbon dioxide emissions to new levels not seen since 2010.
- A virtual pub, The Covid Arms, is raising money for foodbank charity The Trussell Trust who supply emergency food supplies to people in crisis, by running live-streamed comedy nights. You can get tickets here.
- Two young children from Vietnam have donated 20,000 medical masks to the UK using their ‘lucky money’, a Vietnamese tradition where children are given money in a red envelope to celebrate Lunar New Year
- A restaurant in Amsterdam is offering a four course menu to diners as they sit in individual greenhouses in their household groups. Food is served on long boards which are then slid into the greenhouses from outside.
- New Banksy artwork has appeared at Southampton General Hospital. It depicts a young boy playing with an NHS nurse action hero. The artist left a note for hospital staff which read: “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its only black and white.”
- A Belgian maintenance company have used their fleet of cranes to reunite residents of nursing homes on higher floors with their loved ones who they were unable to chat or see through their windows like their friends on the ground floor. Group-f, a cleaning and maintenance company, used their cranes which were otherwise standing idle to lift relatives up to see their elderly family members.
- After having much of their work inevitably cancelled, photographers in the UK have taken to offering (socially distant) lockdown photoshoots where families stand at the front of their homes for a portrait together. Check some examples out here and here.
- Volunteers from the conservation charity Trees for Life have opted to isolate at Dundreggan estate in the Scottish Highlands so that they could save more than 10,000 young trees from being lost during the pandemic. The coronavirus crisis forced the postponement of this spring’s tree planting as planned so to safe the saplings, the six volunteers chose to remain on-site during the lockdown to take care of them and ensure the trees do not die.
- New Zealand has eased its lockdown with shops, cafes and parks reopening. Citizens are also now allowed to start seeing their friends and families again, with a limit of 10 people. Can we talk about how amazing their prime minister, Jacinda Ardern is please?
I really enjoyed pulling together this blog post together and I really hope you’ve liked reading it! If you’ve got any more good news stories to share, I’d love to know about them so please let me know in the comments! Because let’s be honest, I think we’ve had quite enough bad news, haven’t we?
Emily>
