Amid a global pandemic, humanitarian crises, wars, disasters and other bleak news, lighthearted stories are as necessary as ever. Here is a pick of the week's best funny, silly, strange and quirky news from around the world.

No time to retire

Forget retiring at 60. One Brazilian man has broken the world record for working at the same company for... 84 years.

Walter Orthmann, who turned 100 earlier this month, began working at the Industrias Renaux S.A. (now ReneauxView) textile company in Santa Catarina in 1938 at age 15.

He started out as a shipping assistant before being promoted and becoming a successful sales manager. And he never left, tallying up 84 years and nine days with the company, according to Guinness World Records, which certified his record in January.

"Back in 1938, kids were expected to work to help support the family," Orthmann noted.

At an age when most people would have long been enjoying their retirement, he said the best part about having a job is that it gives you a sense of purpose, commitment and a routine. He still drives every day to his office and on April 19, he celebrated his 100th birthday with friends and family, as well as his coworkers.

"I don't do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow. All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise and go to work," said Orthmann. "You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts. So, let's go to work!"

Money down the drain

A school in Japan has found itself with a 3.5 million yen ($27,000) water bill after one of its teachers left the tap running on the facility's swimming pool for over two months last summer.

The teacher, who was in charge of pool maintenance, apparently thought that a constant flow of water into the pool would help keep it free of COVID-19 and left the tap on from early June to late September.

Other staff would sometimes see the tap running and close it, but the teacher would then reopen it, AFP reported.

An estimated 4,000 tonnes of excess water was used in the process, enough to fill the pool 11 times.

This will turn out to have been a costly idea: local authorities in Yokosuka in central Japan's Kanagawa prefecture are now asking the teacher and two supervisors to foot half the water bill.

Santa for Congress!

The U.S. Congress could soon get a Representative Claus, if one Alaska resident gets his way. Santa Claus is officially running for Alaska's only seat in the House of Representatives after its previous congressman Don Young died last month.

True to form, the 74-year-old Claus boasts a long white beard and lives in North Pole – a city in the U.S.'s northernmost province. Born Tom O'Connor, he legally changed his name to Santa Claus in 2005 while considering a life change.

However, his new career path, which took him from Nevada to Alaska, did not involve making toys – if anything, he actually dislikes the commercialism behind Christmas.  

Instead, he has been active in politics, getting elected to the city council and touring the country to meet with governors and advocate for children's welfare.

Now, the staunch Bernie Sanders supporter – who is up against Alaska's notorious former governor Sarah Palin, among others – hopes to get elected to finish Young's term, which runs until next January. After that, he does not plan to seek re-election.

But "for some positive change, I'd like to do my little part," he told The Guardian.

"Plus I think it'd be kind of fun. Alaska is known for kind of having characters up here. I would certainly be well within that tradition.”

Read more:

ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - April 1, 2022

ICYMI: The week's quirky news from around the world - December 2, 2021