Bye bye negativity – hello reasons to be cheery

The news is filled with the negative today, so here is a light-hearted little post designed just to cheer you up.

Virus rates are up, teens arrested for murder, lockdowns return, pension dashboards delayed, financial hardship increasing…it would be easy to feel depressed on a news day such as this.

So here is a post filled with good news, animals and other things to cheer us all up!

Some reasons to be cheery:

1. Over 600 people have passed their Personal Finance Society Chartered Financial Planner exams since March 2020.

• Wild beavers are back in the UK! Two beavers have been released on a Cumbrian country estate this week as part of the five-year trial after the ecosystem engineers were hunted to extinction in the UK in the 16^th century.

• Like water sports? Adrenaline junkie? I enjoy a good surf but no way I would have managed these epic waves in Cornwall this week: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-54726717

• Like model trains? Then here is a the good news for you as it appears you are far from alone. Model railway maker Hornby saw its sales surge by 33% over the last six months, taking the company back to profitability after a hard few years. It seems a lot of people have chosen model trains and Scalextric (the childhood classic Hornby also make) to keep themselves occupied in lockdown.

• Here is my home-office secretary in her current state of relaxation. We could all learn a little something from her zen. More of a distraction than a good worker but she did once answer the phone: