KEEP THE LOVE ALIVE (Pt. 01)

SO the Coronavirus has well and truly arrived in South Africa, and we're on lockdown as of tomorrow. So that's quite hectic and that obviously means that things have changed for all of us, ourselves included, so we thought we'd give you all some ideas as to what to do whilst the virus keeps us all locked in our homes. This is going to be a two-parter, so look out for the next installment coming tomorrow!

What were you guys doing with roses the other day?

As some of you may have seen on our Instagram Stories over the last couple of days, we spent Monday evening and Tuesday evening driving around Cape Town in full apocalyptic isolation gear to drop off some (very sanitised, details available lower down) roses to some of our favourite supporters. It was a very wholesome adventure, and an opportunity for us to spend some time giving back to the people who support us the most!

At the time, we knew that people had been stuck inside for a good long while, and were starting to feel lonely, so we figured that surprising people with a rose and a note would go a little way to help bring up the spirits of some of the people who bring ours up the most. But little did we know that the address of our president (absolute bloody legend by the way, we all need to applaud the man for having the courage to make the decisions he's making, and for how pro-active and considered he's being) would put us all on lockdown from midnight tonight . . .

We know that being locked in the same house as our families is going to be difficult for most of us, for a variety of reasons, but we want to encourage you all to be proactive and spread some love in this time in which is going to feel difficult to do anything. What are we on about? We want to encourage you to all do something nice for somebody in your house/lockdown plek, and we're calling it the #keepthelovealive challenge!

The #KEEPTHELOVEALIVE Challenge

What does the #keepthelovealive challenge entail exactly? Well, we want to encourage all of you to do nice things for the people that you're going to be surrounded by 24/7, and there are a few reasons for that:

1. For the lucky recipient of your kind deed, it's going to brighten their day astronomically, especially when they have no idea or expectation that you're going to do it! The world can be pretty depressing at the moment, especially locked in a confined space, so you'll be bringing some serious light to their lives.

2. It feels fucking nice to do nice things for other people, so for you selfish buggas that don't want to do it just to be nice to others, there's your reason. Dickheads ;p

3. It'll bring some harmony and good vibes to the home, which is going to be in short supply, and will make lockdown easier for you, and the ones you love (even if it doesn't feel like it all the time).

4. Finally, it'll bring some really incredible positive energy to the social media platforms that we're all spending a disgusting amount of time on.

Whether your kind deeds be big or small, use this time in lockdown to spread joy and happiness to your quaran-team. We've included some suggestions of nice things to do below, but by no means be constrained by our ideas! Use those wonderful brains of yours and surprise us with your creativity. You've got plenty of time to use your #imagination to come up with a variety of ideas, and pull them off incredibly. Here's a list of ideas:

1. Out of the blue, make a parent/sibling a cup of tea/coffee when they look stressed and tired

2. Make a parent/sibling a cocktail that they've never had before when they seem like they're about to explode because your sibling's being a dumbass (this is a double kindness, film your grateful sibling as well). Use https://www.cocktailbuilder.com/ to reverse search cocktail recipes with the stuff in your house!

3. Volunteer to make lunch or supper and blow the fam away with your ability to actually make more than pasta, sandwiches, & 2-minute noodles. Here's a bunch of ideas to get you started, and they're veggie, so also good for the planet, meaning you get moral brownie points too!

4. Do a chore that your parent would usually have to do but hate. They'll begrudgingly psyche themselves up to do it, only to arrive to it being done! What a treat.

5. Hide a positive note around the house for somebody to find for a little pick-me-up. It'll go a long way to improve someone's day!

To encourage you to be a good person (although we shouldn't really need to), we're going to be giving away two pairs of tickets to our first show back to the two people who do the most consecutive days of the #keepthelovealive challenge! Remember, for it to count, you have share it to your IG story, TAG FIVE KIND FRIENDS, and don't forget to include the hashtag #keepthelovealive and tag us @heyimagineofficial !

Go out into your house and spread the fucking love homies! We can't wait to see the positivity and good vibes you all spread in this time!

Keep the Love Alive,

Hey Imagine

P.S. - The Roses:

Please note the following precautionary measures were taken regarding the delivery of the roses to ensure that the chances of transmitting COVID-19 to the recipients were for all intents and purposes removed:

1 - Both delivery boys showered before putting on clean clothes.

2 - Both delivery boys sanitised their hands before putting on clean gloves and face masks, which wore worn for the entirety of the time they were in the car.

3 - Before the roses were removed from the vase that they had been in, the handler's hands were sanitised, then the stalk of each rose was sanitised.

The transmission of the virus is as follows, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, found here:

"While the first cases probably involved exposure to an animal source, the virus now seems to be spreading from person-to-person. It is thought to happen mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza and other respiratory pathogens spread. Thus far the majority of cases have occurred in people with close physical contact to cases and healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19."

As far as we know, none of the band members have been in contact with the virus, but ass a precaution, the masks will have stopped any transmission from either of the delivery boys, and the gloves will have prevented them from picking it up.

We would like to encourage everyone to remain in their homes for the duration of the lockdown, and obey any messages from the President, government, or healthcare professionals.