Even the BodyShop is going Vegan

If you follow me on other social media you will have seen that the other week I was invited to the Body Shop in Chichester to check out all the lovely products, and have a sneak preview at the new ones.

I'm far from a beauty blogger (as you know) but I need to wash, I like a nice bubble bath, I sometimes need to moisturise my elbows and as I age I'm finding I need to pay more attention to my face too. Though I draw the line at makeup. Of course I'm mum to a teen and she uses make up, so she was thrilled to accompany me to see what the Body Shop had to offer.

I haven't been to a Body Shop in a years. Like many people I fell out of love with them when they were bought by L'Oreal in 2006 and seemed to give up on their natural credentials. It was nice to hear that they are now a subsidiary of a Brazilian company, having been bought by the ethical Brazilian cosmetics B-Corp, Natura in 2017.

Body Shop now have the coveted 'leaping bunny' (cruelty free) logo and in even bigger news most Body Shop products are now vegan! And the few that aren't (they use honey in some products) will be having ingredient changes to move them to vegan soon too. Vegan products are being clearly labelled on the packaging too. Body Shop are against all forms of animal testing forever. (Join in and sign the petition here)

But on to the fun things! They have some really nice, and very reasonably priced items in store. The old favourites like White Musk are still there (now using synthetic musk obviously) and a Frosted Plum range smelled very like Dewberry to me, but there are also some lovely new (at least to me) scents too. I am an old lady so this may explain why I loved the British Rose scented body cream, but Raffy is young and she loved it too, and the mango scents.

The Body Shop has a range of products within each scent, so that you can mix and/or match.

The soaps smelled gorgeous, starting at £2 a bar and nicely scented. Need a 'not chocolate' easter gift? This limited edition olive oil soap bunny is too adorable!

Looking for a scrub without plastic microbeads, but still with 'bits'? Body Shop have French Grape Seed Scrub, have a nice glass of pinot and be grapey inside and out!

For anyone keen to try a new face mask, Body Shop have a lovely Himalayan Charcoal Mask, vegan, and formulated without parabens, paraffin, silicone or mineral oil.

I've been trying out some of the products and have been happy with the quality of them. It's nice that they are vegan, and if you can't pop into a store you can order online with free delivery if you spend over £20

Thanks to the staff at Chichester for a fun evening and for sharing your favourite products with us.

Disclosure: I was invited to the event and given a goody bag, I was not paid for my time and all the views in this post are my own.

A day out at Marwell Zoo

Marwell zoo is quite close to us, just under a 2 hour drive anyway, which in America would be about 140 miles but here in the UK is closer to 50 miles.

So we go a few times a year, we've thought about an annual pass but it's not quite a saving yet. At under £50 for the three of us for a day it's not a cheap day out but not totally crazy either, and the quality of the day's fun is high! And so many animals.

We hadn't visited so early in the year before, usually waiting for a hot day in August but in May on a sunny day it was lovely. Cooler so more animals were out and about and also slightly less crowded.


I was most excited to see the fossa, my favourite animal of all time, it's like some weird mad scientist crossed a dog, a cat and monkey; all slinky muscles and evil teeth. So I was thrilled to read they have a new male there and hope to breed them soon, a baby fossa! I simply cannot wait.

Husband is more a fan of the warthogs and rhinos, and his absolute favourites have always been the capybara, although after this visit he says that maybe his allegiance has changed to the coati , who are great fun to watch, hunting insects in the grass and bushes, pouncing into the clover and snapping at the flies, and they are great climbers too.

Darling Daughter is a fan on giraffes, and meerkets. But her total favourite is the tapir, for the whiffling noses and the cuteness of their babies - we did see the tapir but sadly didn't get any photos of them...they were whiffling though.

So here is a selection of photos from our day.

Penguins

Train

Giraffe

Meerkat

Stilt

Ibis

Coati (pronounced Ko-ah-tee)

Gibbon

Fossa

Fossa

Fossa (definitely male)

Fossa, (yes I took a lot of pictures of him)

Mini crocodile

So we had a great day out and I'd really recommend it for a family trip, there are lots of animals to see, a climbing and play area for the kids, and a good cafe (we had a burger each from the Barbecue and they were delicious) We like it as the animals seem happy and have interesting and appropriately sized enclosures, I love seeing the giraffes gallop about!

Find out more at the website https://www.marwell.org.uk/zoo/ where you can also buy your tickets to jump the entrance queues!

Poem - written after passing a dead fox in the rain

Reynard in Rain

Fur; dirty, limp, in flying spray

sad and quiet, laying flayed

each passing car is washing fur

the only sound the rasping purr

of an engine.

Blood; long dried and stilled

in a body cool and killed

fleet of foot but none can outrun death

and now just skin, fur, bone, no breath

is left behind.

Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo

A day out in Sussex, with goats

Yesterday we had a rather cute and cheap day out at the Aldingbourne Country Centre. It's a farm and horticultural centre with cafe, that gives opportunities to adults with learning disabilities.

It has a slightly odd pricing structure, at £3 per child (aged 3-15), children must be accompanied by an adult, and then the adults have to pay £3 too....adults can visit the cafe and garden centre area for free as long as they have no children with them!

Any way we were 3, two adults and a child and we paid £3 each so we could do all the things included in the admission price, crazy golf, visit the animals (we forgot to visit the bees!) do the treasure hunt, wander the gardens etc

We even managed to pop into the cafe for coffee and cake, and had a look at the upcycled furniture.

All in all it was a lovely day and very good value. It's right next to Fontwell in West Sussex. Close enough to Eartham woods for a walk there too, or trips to the Roman Villas at Bigor and Fishbourne too.

Eating a zoo

Chatting on twitter about my tea, a zebra burger, led me to think of all the animals, birds and fish I'd ever eaten.

I often talk about "eating a zoo" and although being vegan is probably more common now, in the past zoophagy was a far more popular pastime. Groups of wealthy Victorian chaps sat around and munched on rhino, eland, elephant and bear.

In the UK now we happily eat pigs, sheep, cows and chickens but once past those people get oddly squeamish, 'oh no!' they squeal ' I couldn't eat a horse, I just couldn't' , but why? why couldn't we? Society has enforced within us 'rules' about what is, and what isn't, food; but our bodies are happy to override that and use the fuel we give it. I'm happily eating all sorts of interesting things...
 

Image credit: yamix / 123RF Stock Photo

Here is a list of the animals I've eaten.(if I remember any more I'll pop back and add them)

Starting with the mammals...

1. Cow
2. Sheep
3. Pig
4. Buffalo (bison) (delicious)
5. Water buffalo
6. Rabbit (tender, lean)
7. Deer
8. Giraffe (similar to zebra, like mild beef)
9. Zebra (not bad)
10. Camel
11. Llama (tasty)
12. Chicken (tastes like chicken)
13. Turkey
14. Duck (not keen)
15. Ostrich (yummy)
16. Crocodile (not as exciting as I'd hoped, bland)
17. Cod
18. Haddock
19. Salmon (don't like it)
20. Plaice
21. Anchovies/whitebait
22. Sardines
23. Tuna
24. Swordfish
25. Caviare (various types, liked the bright green and orange best, sea urchin I think)
26. Trout (delicate, lovely)
27. Pollack
28. Monk fish
29. Octopus
30. Squid (excellent fried in batter)
31. Crab
32. Prawns
33. Lobster (with chilli and spaghetti...one of my favourite meals)
34. Mussels (lovely with garlic and chips)

Image credit: saddako / 123RF Stock Photo

I thought the list would be longer I admit.

I love animals so I feel a bit odd also enjoying eating them. But I have killed things (with my bare hands, don't ask), I'm not one of those "oh it's ok if it doesn't look like an animal" carnivores. I've eaten fish with eyes on...whole.

I shall continue to try and eat my zoo, though I'm avoiding carnivores as I've heard they taste bad. I shall draw the line at endangered species too, no panda sausages. But pretty much everything else is fair game (pun intended)

Next on my wish list, goat (preferably in a curry), kangaroo, some other birds maybe, quail, pigeon, goose?

(for those keen to join me, check with your local butcher, Lidl or ExoticMeats online)

How about you? Vegan, vegetarian, reluctant carnivore or keen zoo eater?

If you eat animals what's on your list? Any I need to try?

Visiting Marwell Zoo - Top Tips for the perfect day out

We visit Marwell once a year or so, we love it but it's a fair drive from our house and until recently we had dogs that couldn't be left for too long so trips took a fair bit of planning. Since becoming 'dogless' we could plan a longer day and we had an excellent time yesterday on a perfect summers day.

It's a zoo primarily but does have other attractions for children, with some playgrounds scattered about, a mini train (£2 extra on top of the entry fee) and a 'Road Train' (tractor pulling trailers with seats) , which is free.

The zoo is huge, great for the animals and for making it feel spacious and not too crowded but not such fun for tiny legs. You can take picnics and there are designated picnic areas (including one undercover in case of rain) tea and coffee is not too expensive. There are cafes serving meals but they can have long queues at 'people feeding time'. You can leave picnic things in the car and go back to get them but it's a fair walk! Might be better to pack the buggy or wheeled trolley and take it all first time.

So, top tips

• Buy your tickets online before you go. You will avoid the queues.
• If you plan to visit more than a few times a year buy a season ticket.
• If you have small children consider planning only visiting a few 'favourite' animals and going directly to them.
• The 'start' of the zoo can be busy, we went around the zoo in reverse, starting with the pygmy hippos, we avoided any crush and the end of the zoo is shadier so we were still cool at halfway around! The kiosks and toilets at that end of the zoo were quieter in the morning too.
• There are playgrounds and children will want to play. Let them! Try to plan it into the trip - maybe while you have a cup of tea! But trying to argue you came to see animals will spoil the day and cause upset in lots of kids (speaking from what we saw!) 15 minutes on the climbing frame won't.
• Take your time. If you (or the children) are getting tired have a trip on the road train. It's free but can get busy so you may have to wait. It's a great way to see the whole zoo, either to plan your day or to catch things you missed before you leave. Also use it to get to the far end of the zoo and walk back.
• The cafes get busy at lunch time and can be expensive, consider taking a picnic. You can leave the zoo to collect things from the car so you don't have to carry your picnic around all day.
• Take a sheet of things to do to keep the kids interested in the animals. Quizzes about animal facts for the older children, simple spotter sheets for the younger ones. (I've made one here) Why not get them to look at the website, see what is there and draw their own spotter sheet! Marwell has free downloads here.

We had a great day. I hope you do too! Have you been? Let me know what you thought!

White Rhinos

Sticky Gecko type thingy (!)

Leaf Cutter ants hard at work

Fossa - Best Animal in the zoo!

Green Snake

Snake skeleton

DD demonstrates her wingspan

Hornbill in the walk through aviary

Somali Wild Ass and foal - most endangered animal that the zoo keeps

Serval

Crows lurking by the cafe

Giraffe

Meerkat on patrol

Meerkat ...

Now wash your hands

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

There is a very real chance that at least 2 people reading this are sitting on the toilet. Yes you! I see you (I don’t, that would be creepy and bit pervy if you ARE on the loo) 

Lots of people take the few brief moments of calm while sitting on the loo to check texts, emails, blogs, twitter, etc Numerous studies have shown this to be unhygienic (as if we needed a study – bloomin’ obvious if you ask me!) but we still do it because in this technological world of ‘labour saving devices’ (haha) we seem more rushed, more busy and more stressed than ever before.

Who knows why? Maybe it’s FOMO (fear of missing out) or maybe it’s lack of real friends in a digital age, or a genuine lack of time, I know that parents seem forced to rush form one activity to another, ferrying children in cars from event to event, monitoring their whereabouts, terrified to let them play out without supervision due to the threat of pedophiles (and I’d love to say ‘oh that didn’t happen in the 70s’ but looking at recent evidence I’d be wrong) or traffic. I saw recently on twitter that mums asked what they would do with 5 minutes to themselves struggled with an answer, so rare was the occurrence!

Anyway, the loo, the toilet, the bog, as a respite area, a calm haven in a busy work day or a hectic home full of small screaming children, unhygienic but needs must.

But wait, danger lurks, even in your calm and peaceful water closet…

From the news this week Fox attacks man on Toilet!

And other stories of toilet horror abound

Things like Rat crawls out of toilet

And Three foot lizard in supermarket toilet

And Squirrel found in toilet

and also Snake bites man's penis as he sits on toilet!!!

So now…still sitting comfortably? 

You may also enjoy this post where animals attack....

Unable to 'rein' myself in any longer, I talk horsemeat ..

Sorry for the late arrival of this blog post, this was caused by the wrong type of meat in a lasagne. 

I wasn’t going to blog about this, the horse meat thing. Everyone else has had a right old go. Probably more eloquently that I will be able to. People have had clever arguments and stupid reactions and hilarious jokes. 

I wasn’t going to talk about it. 

I tweeted a few times, shock at the number of horses there must be somewhere for all this horse meat to have appeared and to be so cheap. The usual shock at people grossed out by having eaten a meat they clearly enjoyed but who now feel nauseous as it contained My Little Pony. Anger that drugs may have entered the food chain due to poor checks. 


And then, and then I heard a chap from a laboratory talking about the testing and explaining they didn’t routinely test for other DNA, they only tested when asked!!!! 

So, unless asked they didn’t test for horse. Are you listening!! This means that unless asked they don’t test for dog either, or rat, or pigmy hippo or….and think on this … or human DNA. 

And then the news hinted that all of this was a huge fraud that the Mafia may be involved…the Mafia. 

And wait, aren’t the ready meals mostly Italian food based? Bolognese, lasagne…. 

So now we know what happens to the rest of the horse after you find the head in your bed, but worse still maybe concrete overshoes and sleeping with the fishes are old hat, maybe, just maybe, "keeping your friends close and your enemies closer" takes on a whole new meaning when your enemies are smothered in Mama’s special Bolognese sauce! 

I’m married to an Italian. He said I should blog this as it made him laugh when I ranted it during the news the other night. If I never blog again. Think of me when you eat meat stuffed tortellini. 

Images Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos