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.

Gnomes wanted!

Move over toilet paper: the latest commodity to experience a shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic is more decorative, suited to the outdoors and just a little bit kitschy.

That's right, the BBC reported last week that the UK is suffering a shortage of garden gnomes.

The low supply was reportedly caused by the increasing popularity of garden centers during the pandemic, as people stuck at home have turned to gardening and landscaping, but also to the recent blockage of the Suez Canal.

Indeed, garden gnomes and patio furniture were among the precious goods held up when a giant container ship ran aground in the canal last month, causing a massive shipping backlog.

"There's definitely a shortage," an assistant manager at one UK garden center said of the recent dearth of happy little garden figurines, noting that this applied to gnomes of all types: whether made of plastic, concrete or stone."We haven't seen a gnome in six months now unfortunately."

Pastry in a tree

Animal rescue services in Krakow, Poland were called last week to retrieve an unidentified animal – possibly an iguana – from a tree only to discover the trespasser was … a croissant.

In a Facebook post, the Krakow Animal Welfare Society said it received a call from a desperate-sounding woman talking about a "creature" that had been sitting in a tree opposite her building for two days.

"People do not open windows because they are afraid that it will enter their home!," the woman said. Asked to describe the animal, she surmised it may be an iguana.

Arriving on the scene however, animal rescuers found to their great amusement a flaky buttery pastry suspended in the branches of a tree. They admitted to being unable to help the "creature" as "it is difficult to help something that has been previously baked."

It is thought that a neighbor threw the croissant out of a window to feed some birds and this is how it got stuck in the tree.

The account was no April Fool's joke, the Krakow Animal Welfare Society insisted. Although the incident caused great hilarity, the society noted it was better to report unusual sightings than take any risks with mysterious beings – baked or otherwise.

Four weddings and a loophole

In need of a holiday? Just get hitched! That's what one Taiwanese couple did. But they took it a little further than most by marrying four times in just over a month.

Employers in the Taiwan region are legally obliged to give staff eight days' paid leave if they get married. But one bank employee found a way to extend this honeymoon, by marrying – and then divorcing – his bride four times back to back, thereby claiming 32 days off in a span of 37 days, AFP reported.

The bank tried to block this only to be fined by Taipei City's Labor Department for violating leave regulations. The department eventually revoked the fine.

The employee has since quit the bank. No news on whether he plans any new marriages or divorces soon.

Bunking off work

We've all probably wanted to skip a day of work. But what about… 15 years?

An Italian man, dubbed "the king of absentees" by local media, reportedly continued to collect a monthly salary from the hospital where he worked in the southern city of Catanzaro, despite not turning up for work since 2005, The Guardian reported.

In all, the now 67-year-old earned close to $650,000 over the 15 years without lifting a finger, according to police. 

He now faces charges of abuse of office, forgery and aggravated extortion, while six managers at the hospital are under investigation for helping him get away with being constantly absent.

In 2005, the man almost faced a disciplinary report but he threatened the hospital's director who later retired and her successor did not follow up on the matter.

This is not the first time a public sector employee in Italy has been caught shirking their duties. The 15-year span however could well be a new national record!

Read more:

ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - April 9, 2021

ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - March 5, 2021