The doggy daycare bus, the murals challenging stereotypes and more
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The doggy daycare bus, the murals challenging stereotypes and more uplifting news | The Guardian
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The doggy daycare bus, the murals challenging stereotypes and more uplifting news
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Good morning.
Sharon Telford had been a bus driver for 25 years when she was offered a new twist on her chosen career – driving a bus for dogs. The pooches would be taken to a private dog park for exercise when their owners couldn’t walk them themselves.
“The dogs all love the bus, and they know the routine,” she writes in this weekend’s Experience. “As soon as we turn on to a particular road and cross over the cattle grid, they start barking. They can’t wait to get to the field.”
Telford hasn’t been in the job for more than a year but it seems like she may be one of the most satisfied workers in the UK: “I adore my job – it’s so joyful and it doesn’t feel like work. Some of the dogs can be a bit aloof at first, but when they relax and take a treat off you, it gives you a real buzz.”
Read on for more uplifting stories from the week.
The Guardian newsletters team
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Restricted eating hours may reduce cognitive decline in older age, researchers find
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 The small clinical trial run by academics at Rutgers University in New Jersey found ‘additional benefits’ beyond weight loss to restricted eating. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
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Restricting eating to a nine‑hour window and avoiding food for four hours before sleep may improve cognitive health in older adults. In a six‑month trial of 47 women who were considered overweight or obese, both groups lost similar weight, but those following time‑restricted eating performed better on spatial planning and problem‑solving tests, with hints of improved memory.
Researchers suggest circadian rhythms, metabolism and inflammation may play a role. Experts stress the findings are preliminary and require larger, peer‑reviewed studies.
Prof Wendy Hall, the head of nutritional sciences at King’s College London, said: “Time-restricted eating is a plausible approach to supporting cognitive health in midlife”.
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The Feast app: your most useful kitchen utensil
Get inspired with more than 7,000 recipes from our world-class cooks and smart, exclusive features to make cooking a breeze.
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‘Impossible things are possible’: the murals celebrating lives beyond homelessness
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Artist Luke Embden with I Was Here, a public art installation in Bristol created in collaboration with charity St Mungo’s. Photograph: Richard Dawson/PA
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Three new murals installed in east London, Reading and Bristol in a bid to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about rough sleepers.
With numbers of rough sleepers in the UK rising to record levels, homeless charity St Mungo’s has commissioned the artworks to tell the story of former rough sleepers – Lee, Tamika, Ray and Lawretta – that it has helped support out of homelessness. Each mural features an integrated QR code that directs to the narrated stories of the people depicted.
“I wanted to give these case studies a voice,” mural artist, Luke Embden says. “This is a really beautiful way to get the message out there.”
“They’re asking people to stop and look and listen,” says Emma Haddad, the chief executive of St Mungo’s. “Recovery is possible, hope is possible, and support plays a fundamental role in that.”
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How one man’s near-death experience led to the discovery of the first Jurassic sea dragon
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Matthew Myerscough with the rear paddle from a plesiosaur – possibly a Thalassiodracon or ‘sea dragon’ – that he found in Somerset. Photograph: Ceri Oakes
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Matthew Myerscough came to fossil hunting after he was caught in an avalanche. Revisiting his old hobby as a boy was a way to cope with stubborn memories of the accident, and the enduring panic he faced. Now, it’s opened up a world of treasures, including a dinosaur footprint and, spectacularly, a sea dragon – a marine reptile from the Jurassic period, washed up on Lavernock beach in south Wales.
His recent book details his “star finds”, and illuminates the strange, underground world of fossil hunting which gave him refuge in a moment of darkness.
“There’s this mindful, almost meditative state that I get into because I’m forgetting about all the other stresses and worries in life. I’m so focused on what I’m doing in that moment.”
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I’d lost my libido – then I saw Richard Ashcroft on stage and it came bursting back
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Mel Hudson, who was reminded of the joys of fancying someone. Photograph: Jake Walters
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After her kids flew the nest, 56-year-old Mel Hudson was basking in the peaceful glow of single life – until she realised something (her libido) was missing. Cue her sexual reawakening, thanks to a famous rockstar.
In the weeks after reluctantly attending his gig, Mel had a realisation: “I had fallen in love with Richard Ashcroft.”
Her obsession became more than an unrequited celebrity crush. It was a reminder of the joys of fancying someone; a catalyst for more passionate experiences.
“As an older person, you discount desire at your peril,” Mel writes. “The story of it may ebb and flow – but it doesn’t have to end.”
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Psychoanalysis and skydiving are helping an orchestra open up Mahler’s First
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Flautist (and artistic director) Jane Mitchell is airborne in Aurora Orchestra’s Shostakovich’s Fifth by Heart at the BBC Proms in August 2025. Photograph: Andy Paradise
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In what they hope will prove a spectacular feat of memory, this weekend the Aurora Orchestra will attempt to perform Mahler’s (almost hour long) First symphony entirely by heart. For the musicians, it’s exhilarating – and for those listening, they hope, it’ll be transformative.
Twelve years ago, the orchestra attempted a similar feat with Mozart’s 40th. This weekend’s piece is almost twice as long, and requires double the number of musicians.
“I want to find ways to give audiences the same breathtaking experience I have,” says artistic director Jane Mitchell.
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| When my teenage son was struggling, my partner reached him in ways I couldn’t |
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After a catastrophic falling out with university friends, Lola’s 19-year-old son was struggling to see the light. Enter Lola’s boyfriend, who made all the difference – connecting with her son and helping turn things around. It was a learning experience for the whole family, Lola included: “Watching you step in taught me that I didn’t always have to be the one to fix things,” she says. Here, she thanks her boyfriend from the bottom of her heart.
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