The diary of Dad

Let’s face it, this last week has been a pretty rough one for all of us around the world. The news is, quite rightly, only reporting one thing so I thought I would have a look for something a bit more cheerful.

So here is a list of the happy and somewhat bizarre stories that you probably missed this week.

A London man has become just the second person ever to be cured of HIV. Adam Catillejo is the only person to be successfully cleared since 2011 and though the cure is not expected to be a widespread solution it is certainly a huge breakthrough in the field.

Over in China, the mass restrictions and isolations have led to a huge drop in air pollution. Marshall Burke from Stamford University has stated that this will “likely save twenty times more lives in China than have currently been lost due to infection.” With air pollution cited as causing nearly nine million deaths a year, Burke went on to say that this could save “4000 kids under 5 and 73000 adults over 70 in China.” See, there is some good news after all!

Nature certainly seems to be appreciating this slower lifestyle. Residents in Venice are delighted to see their canals cleaner than they have been in years and can even now see fish swimming in the usual murky waters. It’s not just the fish either, this cheeky dolphin was spotted taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere in the canal!

Over in the USA there are some fantastic stories of communities coming together and supporting one another. In California Jonny Blue held up a sign on a street corner simply saying ‘share your toilet paper.’ Within hours he found himself a busy man as people crowded to donate their excess rolls and those without gathered to take the much needed rolls. Top work Jonny.

In Ohio the team at The Coaches bar and grill were left stunned by one happy customer. The restaurant was forced to temporarily shut down after Sunday service but one loyal diner eased the worries of their staff by leaving a $2500 tip to be shared between the five staff members on shift. His bill was just $29.75.

In Edinburgh, convenience store owner Zahid Iqbal is giving out over $6000 of stock to his local community. He has already given out over 1000 of his ‘Coronavirus kits’ Which he is making available to all over the age of 65 or with mobility issues facing self-isolation. He is even providing home delivery for those that call his shop and make a request. The kits contain items such as toilet roll, sanitizer and tissues.

Celebrities are getting into the giving spirit too. Former NBA star Charles Barkley has announced that he will be auctioning off his vast array of medals including Olympic golds. The money raised will go towards building affordable housing in his community with hopes of building up to twenty houses. Barkley bluntly revealed “I don’t think I have to walk around with my gold medal or my MVP trophy for people to know I’m Charles Barkley, so I’m going to sell all that crap.” What a player, what a guy!

Although you may not see it on the news, people are still enjoying themselves. In Sydney a law lecturer was forced to stop her online live stream lesson as she saw two of her students participating in a sex act. The teacher stated that the lesson had to be stopped for 5 minutes as she “needs to bleach her eyes.” With all of this isolation, we can be expecting to see plenty of newborn babies in 9 months time!

There’s even a small light at the end of the tunnel for sports fans. In my favourite story this week, Leyton Orient football club have put out a challenge to the football world for a FIFA20 club tournament! What started as a small joke is fast snowballing into what could be the greatest sporting event we see for a while as 128 clubs from around the globe have signed up. I’ll be cheering on Orient, as they face Lokomotiv Moscow in the first round tonight. Funds raised will be donated to keeping football league clubs in business as they continue to lose revenue through lack of matches.

So there you have it, it’s not all bad news folks. It has become a little more difficult to find the reports but people are still being awesome. Great acts of kindness, caring and having fun is not a thing of the past and is still happening all over the world. I hope this little collection put a smile on your face. If it did, please share it and put a smile on my face! Let’s all try and make the world a happier place if you have spotted a great story that I have missed, drop it in the comments below.