Jokes and oddities of the sad year ... 11 news challenges the 2020 gloom

Although 2020 will remain printed with the anxiety that prevailed in the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year also witnessed strange or strange events that violated the general gloomy atmosphere ... and here are a number of them:

- A marriage proposal with armored women

An officer in the Russian army chose to celebrate Valentine's Day in a special way, so he surrounded himself with 16 T-72B3 armored vehicles lined up "in the shape of a heart", with the aim of asking his girlfriend's hand in marriage.

Denis Kazantsev fell on his knee in snowy weather carrying a bouquet of flowers in his hands to ask for his girlfriend's hand at the Alabeno military base near Moscow.

His fiancée, Alexandra Kopetova, did not hide her astonishment at this "unexpected" request.

Theft of toilet paper

Three men armed with knives carried out a robbery against a truck driver at the end of February in a Hong Kong suburb, where they stole his shipment of toilet paper, with yields of more than 1,000 local dollars ($ 129).

With the emergence of the new Corona virus in China, there was a kind of mass hysteria among consumers around the world, as they began to buy toilet papers for fear of being cut off.

- Ski at home

The long days of home quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted many around the world to create strange activities through which they defy the boredom that may result from constantly staying at home.

Among them, a 28-year-old young man from Barcelona photographed himself in early April practicing skiing movements indoors on the roof of a "mountain" that is nothing but a bed sheet.

The young man posted a video recording of nearly a minute's duration and showed him practicing various movements of skiing, using the complete equipment for the sport, in scenes taken through a camera installed on the ceiling.

Corona and Hajar are also names for children

With the aim of countering preconceptions about "Covid-19", a couple in southeast India named their two children, born last April, Corona Kumar and Coruna Kumari.

In India, too, an immigrant couple, who was stuck in an area thousands of kilometers from their home, chose to name their child "Lockdown" (Close).

- It is raining lawn

Hundreds of bags filled with marijuana fell from the sky on a square in Tel Aviv in September, prompting passers-by.


But what happened is not a miracle. It is an initiative by a group that supports legalizing marijuana in Israel, and has announced its intention to do the same in other parts of the country.

Two people were arrested for operating the drone used in the operation.

- Snake instead of muzzle

A person boarded a bus in Manchester, Britain, last September, wrapping a snake around its neck and face.

A witness confirmed that this scene "did not bother anyone" even when the snake began exploring the bus.

The British authorities clarified that the possibility of using alternative masks "does not include the use of snake skin, especially if it is attached to the snake."

He succeeded in the elections after his death

Residents of a small Romanian village reelected their mayor for a new term ... but 11 days after his death from COVID-19 on September 17th.

After the polls closed, the village residents went to the mayor's cemetery to "congratulate" him, carrying candles, on what a resident of the area reported on Facebook.

Cow dung chip

The Indian National Committee for Cows announced in mid-October that it had developed an electronic "chip" using cow dung to protect users from cell phone radiation.

The head of this official body, which was established last year by the government of Hindu nationalist President Narendra Modi, confirmed that "all this is scientifically proven."

- Exit permit ... to be beaten

A 39-year-old Frenchman wrote on the exit permit that is required to be filled to justify the reason for leaving during the closure period last November, that the justification for leaving the house is his desire to "beat a young man."

The policeman who wrote a seizure report worth 135 euros for the young man said that the latter "was carrying a handwritten permit with his real name and the time to leave the house," explaining that the policemen informed him that "the justification is not valid."

- "The whale tail saved him."

A metro train escaped a disaster on November 2, after it broke through a checkpoint near the Dutch city of Rotterdam to settle at a giant whale tail, sparing the driver of the vehicle, which was empty of passengers, an inevitable black fate.

In a remarkable coincidence, the artistic model that protected the train from destruction bears the title "Saved by the whale's tail."

An Austrian town that has changed its scandalous name

Residents of an Austrian village decided to change its name from "Voking" to "Vaging" as of January 1, 2021, due to the outrageous connotation of the English term, hoping to curb excessive interest in it on the part of Internet users.

In recent years, many people have visited the village to take pictures of them next to the traffic signs bearing its name, with some adopting a banal method in order to achieve popularity on Internet platforms.

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