Amid a global pandemic, political crises, natural disasters and other bleak news, light-hearted stories are as necessary as ever. Here is a pick of the week's best funny, silly and quirky news from around the world.
Creative snowplowing
Screenshot of Traffic Scotland's "Trunk Road Gritter Tracker" website on February 18, 2021. /CGTN
Heavy snow? You can count on "Lord Coldemort" and "Sled Zepplin" to clear and salt the road for you. That's if you live in Scotland.
As an Arctic wave hit the UK last week, Scotland sent out its battalion of gritter lorries and snowplows to deal with the fast accumulating snow. And they quickly became a hit, with people tuning in to Traffic Scotland's "Trunk Road Gritter Tracker" website to follow their movements. The reason: their creative names.
There are winter-themed ones (Ice Destroyer, Frosty or Snow Angel), Scottish-inspired ones (Tam O'Salter, Mary Queen of Salt, Robert Brrrns), and others with a more pop-culture reference (Blizzard of Oz, Salt Disney, Licence to Chill and The Great Grittish Flake-Off).
Musicians and celebrities have also been honored, from Spready Mercury to Gritallica and Bear Chills. Sir Andy Flurry has meanwhile been traveling back and forth between Perth and Dunblane – home to tennis player Andy Murray.
The humorous monikers led over 110,000 people to the tracking website last Friday, when it usually receives just about 700,000 over the whole year. And they have already sparked interest far and wide: authorities in Russia and the U.S. have reportedly shown interest in naming their own snowplow fleet now!
Third tree to the left
A hairdresser cuts hair on frozen lake Babelitis while a winter swimmer enjoy swimming in an ice hole on February 15, 2021, in Riga, Latvia. /AFP
Hair salons around the world have struggled against COVID-19 restrictions that deem them non-essential. In Latvia, hairdressers have found a way around the problem: by relocating to the wild.
While salons have been closed since December, outdoor contacts are allowed between two people. And the idea has received support from politicians.
"Getting your hair done in the forest is absolutely OK!" Health Minister Daniels Pavluts reportedly said during a government meeting.
Riga city councillor Ieva Brante also posted a video of herself this week having her hair done surrounded by trees and snow. "Being a lawyer, I support people finding legal ways around regulations, if that allows them to work and earn their living," she said on Facebook.
"We don't know whether even this way is fully legal, but we must try, otherwise we have no income at all," hairdresser Diana Silina told AFP news agency, echoing many other colleagues who have complained they cannot pay their bills.
Those looking to book an appointment do so at their own risk however: Silina set up her temporary salon on a frozen lake.
Extreme measures
A worker shakes off the snow from the canopy above the entrance to a local eatery, Lviv, western Ukraine, February 11, 2021. /Markiian Lyseiko/ Ukrinform/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Some people will kill for a snowplow. Well, almost.
A Ukrainian man called police last weekend to confess to a murder. The twist: he hadn't actually killed anyone but just wanted his street cleared of snow.
A police spokesperson said on Monday the man called to report that he had stabbed his mother's partner to death. At the same time, he informed police they would need to bring a snowplow in order to reach his place.
The officers who responded to the call did not take his advice, traveling instead by SUV, and found on arrival that the supposed victim was very much alive. "The relative was indeed at the house, but in one piece and unharmed. No one had attacked him," the spokesperson said, adding the man immediately confessed to making a false report.
Apparently, municipal services had gone through the man's road earlier that day but he "was not satisfied with the quality of the clearing."
2-for-1 shots!
Israelis have a drink after receiving their Covid-19 vaccine at the Jenia bar in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 18, 2021. /Getty
Israel has sped ahead with its COVID-19 vaccination drive, with over 40 percent of its population already receiving at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. But amid fears this effort could be slowing down, one bar in Tel Aviv came up with an unusual idea this week to make getting the jab a little more appealing.
The Jenia gastropub not only teamed up with the municipality to act as a vaccination clinic, it decided to sweeten the deal by offering anyone who got vaccinated free drinks on the house.
If mixing alcohol and medication sounds dangerous, rest assured: the pub only offered non-alcoholic drinks.
Read more:
ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - February 12, 2021
ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - January 29, 2021
ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - January 15, 2021