Whether

Whether
it’s a chorus of Italian baritones booming from their
balconies or a tale of newfound friendship struck up in the frozen
aisle, we’re suckers for uplifting stories right now, no matter how
small. We’ve pooled the favourite tales of SUITCASE team and
compiled this list of happenings that provide hope and cheer among
the current tide of gloominess.

Let us know if you’ve spotted any particularly uplifting stories
on social media. We’d love to grow this list throughout the
self-isolation (and potential lockdown) period. Email us at
[email protected] and, if you like this article,
sign up to our newsletter where
we’re keeping spirits high with our usual stream of feel-good
articles and epic stories pulled from our print archives.

Italians singing from their balconies

It’s an obvious one, but we couldn’t not include it. For a
little pick-me-up, you can’t do much better than watch these
intergenerational ragtag bands singing from the rafters.

Lambing season LIVE

It might be easy to forget while tucked up in the confines of
your isolation cell, but spring is springing out there. More to the
point, it’s lambing season. A handful of livestock farmers are
keeping our oxytocin levels up by broadcasting the developments
live on social media. Overload your cuteness receptors by following
@mel_irvine on Instagram who posts stories of
her adorable children frolicking with the newborn lambs.

Pret a Manger feeding the NHS

Whether it’s discounting hot drinks for those with reusable cups
or donating their surplus to local food banks, Pret a Manger’s
benevolence always hits the right note. It’s currently offering NHS
workers complimentary hot drinks and a 50 per cent discount on food
as a small gesture of thanks for their gratuitous hard work. NHS
workers, we salute you. Pret, you’re not too bad yourself.

Hotel in Marbella donates 1,500kg of food to local church

Marbella might have a reputation for being a haven of glitz and
Essex-style glamour, but tales of hope are emerging from this sunny
town on the Costa del Sol. The Amàre Beach Hotel Marbella has donated 1,500kg of
surplus fruit, vegetables and cold meats to a local parish church
which is currently being repackaged and carted out to the town’s
elderly residents.

Quarantine concerts

We’re all for celebrity sing-alongs. It started with a
beanie-topped Chris Martin who live-streamed his way through
Coldplay’s back catalogue alternating between piano and acoustic
guitar. Before you could say Viva La Vida, musicians across
Instagram arranged their own quarantine concerts. John Legend’s was
accompanied by a towel-clad Chrissy Teigen, while Robbie Williams
performed topless from the comfort of his own bed. Most of these
gigs are now hidden within the annals of Instagram Live, but you
can find reposts on Twitter fairly easily.

Gal Gadot conducting a celebrity sing-along

Twitter has been ablaze with comments – some appreciative,
others mocking – since Gal Gadot shared this strange compilation
video of Hollywood’s most famous faces singing snippets from John
Lennon’s iconic tune, Imagine. Is it hilarious or endearing? We’re
undecided. Take from it what you will.

A five-star hotel is feeding hungry school children

The Ocean House hotel in Rhode Island has diverted its
food supplies to local families most adversely affected by the
coronavirus. Front-of-house and kitchen staff are routinely driving
around the island, distributing food to children aged 16 and under
who are missing out on lunches due to school closures – some good
old-fashioned soul food.

Hand sanitiser for all

LVMH, the behemothic conglomerate behind Louis Vuitton,
Givenchy, Veuve Clicquot and pretty much any other French luxury
brand you’ve ever heard of, have diverted a portion of their funds
to produce hand sanitiser on an industrial-scale. No, it won’t be
sold as part of a medical diffusion line – 12 tonnes of the stuff
will be donated to 39 hospitals across France. Other companies such
as Brewdog have followed in their footsteps by using their
manufacturing facilities to redress the current hand-sanitiser
deficit. Teamwork makes the dreamwork (sorry – we’re cringing
too).

From the office to the paddy field

Back-office staff at Zannier Hotels’ Phum Baitang in Siem Reap have
temporarily ditched their day jobs and headed out into the
surrounding paddy fields to help local farmers struggling with
unprecedented demand to harvest rice and till the land.

Friendship in the frozen aisle

Who would have thought supermarkets would become such sites of
melodrama? For every incensed trolley-shover ploughing through the
supermarket aisles with greed hot in their blood, there seems to be
two well-meaning citizens looking for companionship. Our favourite
tale is that of millennial Izzie who became “coronavirus buddies”
with 84-year-old Jackie while stockpiling in Co-op.

A 103-Year-Old Woman has recovered from coronavirus

Despite the overwhelming evidence which shows that the elderly
are most at risk, a centenarian (and then some) has made a full
recovery from the disease after only six days of treatment in
Wuhan, thereby becoming the oldest person in the world to do
so.