We live in unusual times. It all gets a bit much some days. So each weekday we’re bringing you a much-needed dose of positivity to remind you that there’s inspiration, kindness and quirkiness out there too.
Karwai Tang/Getty Images
Standing next to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis pulls a face while being on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Prince Louis makes the most of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
Prince Louis has stolen some of the Queen’s thunder at the Trooping of the Colour event in the UK.
Waving to crowds and pulling funny faces as a flypast took place, the four-year-old prince drew attention at the Platinum Jubilee event while standing on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
During the flypast, Louis was shown covering his ears and making a screaming face.
READ MORE:
* The Antidote: Five happy things to read about today, June 1
* The Antidote: Five happy things to read about today, May 31
* The Antidote: Five happy things to read about today, May 30
Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Irish Wolf Hound Turlough Mor (aka Seamus), regimental mascot of the Irish Guards, marches down The Mall during the Trooping the Colour parade.
Seamus, the Irish Wolfhound, marches in Queen’s parade
It wasn’t just Queen Elizabeth II’s relations stealing the show at the Platinum Jubilee, but also one large dog.
A wolfhound called Turlough Mor, also known as Seamus, marched alongside his handler Adam Walsh as the official regimental mascot of the Irish Guards.
WPA Pool/Getty Images
According to sources, the furry mascot was a very good boy.
Walsh said taking part in the Queen’s Birthday Parade was ‘a real privilege’.
‘When it comes to the day, it’s all going to pay off. A lot of the lads have bigger parts to play than me and Seamus, but me and him still need to get it all correct,’ he said.
123RF
Herring gulls are ‘Red Listed birds’ (file photo).
How a pair of seagulls stopped a $675,000 splash park from opening in Wales
A water park in Wales gearing up to open for the 2022 summer season has had plans scuppered by a pair of loved up seagulls.
The herring gulls had decided to make a home on one of the water features, and by law, they can’t be moved, thereby stopping the splash park from opening.
Neath Port Talbot Council, which looks after the park, confirmed that the gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). It means the nesting pair cannot be disturbed until the nest is empty.
Unfortunately for the gulls, they are nesting under a “tipping bucket” feature similar to Wellington’s Bucket Fountain.
Once the bucket fills it will tip over and wash away the nest, and the council said it is “currently quite full with rainwater”.
Therapy horses get shelter from the elements
Therapy horses will no longer have to wait in the rain or blazing sun thanks to a community project to build a yard shelter at Riding for the Disabled Whakatū.
Eight students from the Nelson Marlborough Institutue of Technology Kaitiaki Whenua trainee ranger course, lead by instructor Andy Woolley, lent their muscle and expertise to the project.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
The shelter would keep the horses and gear dry and provide shade during the summer.
Riding for the Disabled Whakatū coach Kelly Craig said the covered shelter would allow horses to remain dry in bad weather, and would stop gear such as saddles and bridles becoming wet.
Rainy days were common in the Brook, meaning many riding days were lost.
Restoration of heroic darkroom almost complete
An early Christchurch darkroom with strong links to the heroic age of Antarctic exploration has been almost completely restored.
The Kinsey Darkroom at Ferrymead Heritage Park was named after Sir Joseph Kinsey, the New Zealand shipping agent for Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
Herbert Ponting, the official photographer for Scott’s 1910-13 Terra Nova expedition, almost certainly talked photography with Kinsey in the building and may have developed photographic plates in the darkroom, although that’s not known for sure.
Ponting’s images from Antarctica are among the most famous taken on the ice, including some candid shots of Scott himself.
