The Cheery Digest

The Kindness Offensive

Love these guys (and gals)

They've put a lot of work in to make a big difference in London town, take a look!

Some advice from an expert ...

... for the Christmas period...

"Never eat more than you can lift." - Miss Piggy

Faith in human nature in process of restoring!

We have just heard on our (generally) favourite radio station BBC 6 Music this splendid tale ...

Jim Webb, 72, from Sheffield, very kindly lent an Aussie tourist by the name of Gary Fenton £5 in 1969, when the Australian traveller asked him for a loan, as he was stuck in Ostend, Belgium and couldn't afford the ferry fare to England. 

Good old Jim stumped up, but while Gary promised to repay the loan, he never heard from him again ... until last Sunday, that is!

Imagine Jim's surprise when he found on his doormat a hand-delivered card and two hundred smackers inside.

Gary explained that he was repaying the £5, plus interest. Jim has decided to give the £200 to charity.

What lovely people!

Happy Birthday Keith Richards!

Yes, the Rolling Stone who, in one of his cheeriest moments brought the world the wondrous song 'Happy', is 65 today. 

Keith, we salute you.

Check THIS out!

Take some smooth with the Rough...

We in Blighty are rather chuffed about the VAT decrease, making us feel all the better about those Christmas shopping trips which only result in us buying presents for ourselves anyway... 

So to hear that the great indie record label / shop Rough Trade is adding to the joy by knocking an extra 5 per cent off all purchases which include at least one of their 'Christmas Suggestions' made things even cheerier, in the fiscal sense.

And it's not just records, dear me no, this includes a boombox ipod dock, portable turntables, the Rock Bible, a classic 1920s blues artwork calendar and a buddha machine which, if you're looking for a prezzie for little old us, is something we might quite like.... 

They're also offering free postage on all purchases over £40. Hooray for Rough Trade!

For intelligent optimists....

Our friends at the brilliant Ode Magazine have all new articles up on their site, dedicated to Intelligent Optimists (like you)

Take a look!

More prezzie ideas...

Oxfam Unwrapped are doing some cool things for prezzies this year, and not just goats (although they're pretty cool too).

For £6 you can pay for health check-ups for the needy or 100 school meals in a poor community, £25 can help set a woman up with her own business, £20 can buy clean, dry and comfy clothes for people who have to leave their homes if disaster strikes, £9 can get safe water for 12 people, you can even get a loo built for £50 to keep things clean and sanitary (and you get a free box of chocolates if you spend over £50).

On GoodGifts, you can also buy socks for the homeless for £5, or a hamper for an elderly personage who might not otherwise get a present.

Do the right thing, we've all got loads of 'stuff' and it's difficult to get the right things for people at the best of time, at least your dosh won't be wasted this way!

Oceans could power the world

A new and blooming amazing device that can harness energy from rivers and oceans could power the whole world, according to scientists.

The technology, inspired by how fish swim, can generate power in water flowing at as slow a rate as one knot, whereas mills and turbines need an average current of five or six to work efficiently. Most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

The system, which was conceived by boffins at the University of Michigan, is called Vivace - vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy. Vivace would also be less harmful to aquatic life than turbines and mills, and would operate far enough below the water's surface that it would not interfere with ships, oil rigs and that kind of malarkey.

Professor Michael Bernitsas says: "If we could harness 0.1 per cent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people."

Flippin' Henry!

Prezzie idea!

We've just heard about the very nice company Affirmagy, which specialises in lovely cuddlesome blankets which are covered in cheery words 'n' stuff. 

They have chic ones and wordy ones and different coloured ones and special ones for babies and all sorts of lovely positive thingness. It can't hurt!

They're also running a campaign called 'Wrap a Senior (elderly personage in English) in Love' - check it! 

Are you feeling twinkly inside?

If not, this might help. I'm not going to tell you what it is because you might ignore it because you think it's 'naff' or '80s'. ( I can't deny it's the latter). 

In fact the video is DEEEEEPLY NAFF, but this is a very, very sweet song which makes even a die-hard punkette like me feel rather sparklesome and even, dare I say it, gooey.

I used to pull my split ends off to this on the Northern Line, sitting very still so my CD walkman wouldn't jog. Halcyon days...