Important Information for Vegetablearians

A while ago, Matthew discovered - on a website about halal foods of all places - that some Mars* products are not halal because they contain non-halal meat products. Obviously, that also means that some Mars products are also not vegetarian, because they contain meat products.

Yes, there is meat in your chocolate. Well, powdered whey made from rennet anyhoo.

Mars don't put a 'V' or a 'suitable for...' or even a 'warning: contains...' on their packaging, so - to get to the bottom of it - Matthew contacted Mars, and they sent him a nice letter telling him which products were veggie and which weren't.

It's great that Mars have provided us with this information, but actually all vegetarians should be provided with this information! Since it does not appear to be available anywhere other than in a letter from Mars (an actual real, paper letter, from the postman; not an email) Matthew has decided to post it.

You can find the list here. Anything listed on that webpage is fine for vegetarians. You will note that my [ex-]favourite icecreams are not listed :'-(

And you can't just say, 'ah, Galaxy Minstrels, they're OK' or 'ah, Galaxy Minstrels, they're not OK', because sometimes it depends on what country they were made in. Basically: you're looking for a 'U' after the best-before-date of the product: if it has a 'U' it' made in the UK and is veggie.


* The chocolates, not the planet or the God.

Just like old times...

You know, nothing calms me down like a good old shredding session (although it may be inflaming the old RSI - who can tell when everything else does too, eh?). Luckily, since Matthew has been hoarding all his bills (and, for some reason, his ex-flatmate's TV licenses) since 2003, there's lots of shredding to do.

Shredding was my favourite activity at my old workplace (well, after scheduling interviews, which is fun in a jigsaw puzzle way, and telling people they been accepted into college, which is fun in a making people really-really-really happy way), and once I discovered there were huge boxes of old archives to go through, there was no stopping me. I also went through at least one shredder, with another being a pretty close call (I got very good at fixing them; and in my defence, it was our crappy* work experience boy who finished off the first one).

Every 45 minutes Workrave gives me a 10 minute rest break. After doing my exercises (I'm sick of doing bloody exercises) I have a nice relaxing shredding session. Not sure whether it's relaxing for others; while my ex-workmates said it didn't bother them, Matthew is potentially reconsidering working from home.

I have finally finished a first draft of my first chapter. Kinda makes the excruciating arm pain worth it. Kinda.

* I'm not being horrid, he was really bad. He put in about 4 hours of work, total, in two days (first day he disappeared after lunch, second day he arrived late before disappearing again), before saying that actually, he wanted work experience in the managerial sector, and that working in an office was below him. Cheers!

Busted!

Ever since I bought Matthew and myself matching waterproof jackets from a charity shop emblazoned with 'Pearl River Pirates Dragonboat Crew' and a skull-and-crossed-oars logo, I've been expecting to be stopped by an irate member of the PRP demanding I stop impersonating a dragonboat crew member.

Well, today in Waitrose I was stopped by a lady who used to be a dragonboat racer in Hong Kong (!), who had seen the PRPs race in Hong Kong (!), wanting to talk about dragonboat racing and my role in the PRP. Doh!

Ah well, the jackets are just far too cool to stop wearing, I mean, they have skulls wearing sunglasses on for freak's sake! And they provide endless amusement to small children in cars driving past us trying to read the words. Plus they keep you dry :D Those jackets have been a complete life saver during our walks and on the way to both weddings I've been to this year. It's just a shame the PRP didn't also decide to donate their waterproof trousers to the charity shop along with the jackets ;) However, after cycling to Waitrose in torrential rain today and having a lovely dry head and torso, but sopping wet knees, I know what I shall be making with the material I took off a broken umbrella: a waterproof skirt, oh yes.

Sadly my ideas for an amusing picture of the back of our jackets with the giant skull logo hasn't come about, but here's a taster:



(Don't be mislead by the torrential rain; that's not actually a photo of Wales, but from our Edale trip instead)

Still here!

Honest! I've been jolly busy with the usual things - having RSI and procrastinating on my thesis. Good news is that I've started writing it now and my arms haven't exploded, hoorah!

I do have some photos to share from our recent trip to Wales, and I'm sure I can throw one in of a Secretary bird stamping on a plastic snake. But until then here's a rather amusing screenshot from the BBC weather page:



Well, Mancunians, you tell me. Did you really have a snow storm in 29oC heat one Thursday in July??? Inquiring minds wish to know.