the phone box

There is an old red phone box outside our office. Nobody knows why it's there. Someone must know what's going to happen to it, but they are keeping it a secret for now. We'll let you know what develops.

random acts of kindness part 2

A while ago I wrote something about 'random acts of kindness' on this blog after one of our drinkers told us a very nice story about coming across a 'Joinee' one lunch time.

Another one of our drinkers (Darragh) read this story and was inspired to buy the book of the same name. Readers of the book are invited to give it away as an additional random acts of kindness when they have finished with it. Well Darragh just posted his well read copy onto me. He did very well to make sure it arrived on a Friday (the suggested act of kindness day of choice).

Thank you Darragh. I'll be sure to pass the book on again when I'm done with it.

our eighth birthday party

Had a little trouble spelling eighth there. Quite a weird word when you look at it for too long.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our eighth birthday party. We had a good time.

Could you pass the crisps please?


Rich, Paul and Mark strike a catalogue pose


Mmm, cake


"You will not take my sandwich"


Martin the magician and his magic hands


Transfixed people check the magic


Beano plays Pass The Parcel


Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech

we are 8

Well, we're not eight yet, but nearly there. On Saturday 28th April we will have been selling drinks for eight years. We had a little party yesterday (pics to be posted soon) and ate jelly.

We also made a few limited edition t-shirts. If you'd like to win one, plus a couple of commemorative badges and a candy necklace (ooh), please tell us the best fact you know about the number eight. The provider of our favourite fact gets the stuff.

bike accessories

If you like bikes you might like to see this little beauty, sent in by David.

We're not sure if this is an example of the Norwegians being a bit lazy or at their innovative best, but either way, it looks a lot of fun.  Here are some more pictures

still running

How fast can three innocent people  run, considering they did the London Marathon on Sunday?

a fond farewell to India

Today was the last day of a second fantastic week working with ITWWS, and sadly the last day of my stay. I felt much more settled and part of the team this week.

Yesterday I went out to some of the villages that ITWWS are working with to help Irula people, indigenous Indians who belong to one of the most marginalised communities in the country. I’ve been helping ITWWS put together their website which means I’ve spent a lot of time learning and writing about the difficulties that they face on a day to day basis. Despite that, it was still a shock to see how they live, and how little they really have. I met a 6 year old boy who lives in one of the villages, who has had to drop out of school to look after his younger sisters as both his parents have to work to feed the family. One of the projects that ITWWS runs is providing learning centres in the Irula villages to allow children to continue their education in the evenings if they have to work or look after siblings
during the day. Having seen so many children who can’t go to school, I now realise how important the learning centres are, and also how important education really is, something that’s often taken for granted.

The villages that we visited are areas where ITWWS are helping to build the villagers solid homes. The villagers themselves, both men and women, work together to carry out the construction work, as it not only provides them with employment but it also gives them a sense of owning the houses as they helped to build them.

Also this week, there was a company meeting for ITWWS staff members. I went along for a few hours and although I’ve learnt a few words of Tamil most of it went over my head. However, there was definitely talk of strategies and tactics and plans for the coming year, so it was pretty much like an innocent company meeting only with better weather and fewer bad jokes.

So today it was with a tear in my eye that I had to say goodbye to the team that has looked after me so well for the last 2 weeks. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to live with such a lovely Indian community in rural India, away from the hassles and distractions of the towns and cities. I’ve learnt a lot about ITWWS and the great work that they do so I’m looking forward to sharing it with everyone when I get back. They’ve achieved so much already and they should be very proud of themselves.

Helen.

blogging in danish

Our Scandinavian blog has been in existence for a little while now, so we thought we'd point you towards it.

A good understanding of Danish will help you get more out of it, but for those of you who don't speak that language, there are plenty of nice pictures and video clips to check out.

please say hello to this water

We'd like to share a secret with you. We're changing our juicy water. A little while ago, we realised that innocent is all about fruit, whilst juicy water is mostly about water. So we thought that a change was in order. In a few weeks time, innocent juicy water will start to be called This Water. The same tasty recipes with a nice new name - a brand new brand.

We thought we'd give you a sneak preview of what This Water will look like - there it is, at the top. And we'll post more info on the launch as it draws closer.

see you at the finish line...

1 day, 21 hours, 21 minutes, 18 seconds and counting to the London Marathon 2007...

Get those foil blankets ready.

The heat, as they say, is on.