answer b & inflatable crocodiles

A little while ago Gav had an idea for a competition. Like all good competitions it had a deadline and that deadline was today.

So here is the official answer to the competition question (to prove we didn't cheat).

And here is the winner: Paul C who sent in a lovely bit of wallpaper and guessed B correctly.

Oh and Gav is leaving us today to go and discover the world, starting with Brixton Academy tonight. Have a great time Gav, don't forget to pack an inflatable crocodile, just in case.

friday rubbish

three countries, three drinks, one day

Did we already tell you about Chris?

He drank three smoothies in three different countries in one day. Here's the story of how he did it.

If you fancy you can do better, please let us know.

***

Chris wants us to add "First, can you make mention that my roommate Bryan also did this? It was a team effort so I want to make sure he gets his 15 minutes of fame as well. Secondly, would it be possible to paste the text of my blog post onto your site rather than linking it to my blog? I'm actually deleting the blog so it'll be a dead link."

Here you go Chris...

January 18th 2008 : Innocent

My roommate and I left Dublin for Copenhagen this morning. We walked around the streets of Copenhagen for a little while, then hopped on a train and crossed the Øresund Bridge into Malmö, Sweden. While walking around in Sweden, I made a remark about how being in three countries in one day was a personal record of mine. Then my roommate mentioned something about how much more impressive it would be if we had done the same thing in each of the countries. Having a pint, for instance. However, we had left Dublin at 4:30am, far too early to start drinking, even by Irish standards.

We tried to think of something that we had done in Dublin before leaving that we could do in Malmö and in Copenhagen on our way back. We had each had an Innocent smoothie with breakfast at the airport in Dublin, so we decided to get Innocent smoothies in Sweden and Denmark as well before the day was over. Smoothie #2 was easy enough to come by. We found them at a cafe inside of an indie music store in Malmö while having a late lunch, so all we needed to do was hop back on an evening train back to Copenhagen and find Smoothie #3.

This was easier said than done. We got back to Copenhagen and had a late dinner before starting our search. At this point, it had started to rain and the wind was blowing fiercely. Still, we stubbornly pushed on, convinced that we would be the first two people in history to consume Innocent smoothies in three different countries in a single day.

We walked several blocks with no success, at one point peeking into a tiny convenience store, not finding the desired smoothies, and being asked by the proprietor in Danish if we were looking for beer. Not knowing the Danish word for "blended fruit beverage," we quickly left, empty handed. Cold and wet but undeterred, we continued walking until we finally found a large convenience store. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a 7-Eleven in my entire life, and there were actually two to choose from on opposite sides of a main road.

We bought our smoothies and brought them back to our hotel, where we opened them with great ceremony, gave a toast, and took a sip. We had, in our minds, just become the first people in history to drink three Innocent smoothies in three different countries using three different currencies in 17 hours, and it gave us great satisfaction. We could finally relax and savor our victory one sip at a time.

Then it occurred to me that I could actually become the first person in history to accomplish this, so I started chugging my smoothie, leaning my head back and squeezing the plastic bottle for additional speed. My roommate quickly realized what I was doing and responded by doing the same. I finished first, triumphantly slammed my empty bottle down on the desk, and pumped my fist in the air. My roommate was quite upset with me for my little antics, but took solace in the fact that he became the only person ever to drink the same flavor Innocent smoothie in three different countries using three different currencies in 17 hours.

If anyone has proof that either of these feats has been accomplished before, feel free to refute our claims. But if not, that's our story and we're telling it to the smoothie company in hopes that they'll give us free stuff or something.

a kind man called greg

A man called Greg emailed us the other day. He has started a blog featuring a bunch of audio work that he's been working on in his free time.

As Greg says "It's all free, but I'm offering the chance for people to buy a handmade CD (packaging made from recycled found stock). Because of your inspiration, I am going to donate 60% of any money that it makes to your innocent foundation at the end of the year. The rest I will use to try to start up a business."

Can't argue with that.

folf professionals

Folf is a new sport, a bit like golf but played with a foam ball.

Brian lines up a shot

It is traditionally played in Mountjoy Square in Dublin, by two men called Brian and Peter.

Claire grabs the ball

But play has been suspended after Claire got in the way of an important folf tournament and ended up with a black eye. Ouch.

how will you spend your free day?

Hopefully you've got something a bit more interesting than the hoovering planned.

This Friday we all get an extra day for free. And since the 29th February only comes round once every four years, we'd love to know how you're going to spend your extra day.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Gav will be watching Hop Chip. 9pm-3am. Oh yes.
• Row will be practicing her housewifery skills.
• Jonathan will be impersonating MC Hammer.
• Cass will be having some me me me time.
• Christian S will be doing all the stuff he never has time to do, like checking the air pressure in his car tyres and installing energy efficient lightbulbs.
• Ben W will be lazing about by the old swimming hole, sipping milkshake and wearing slacks fashioned from bullrushes.

Someone must be doing something more exciting...please let us know

last night

If you were watching telly last night and giving Hotel Babylon a miss, you might have seen something on the other side about the way that companies make claims about products. Professor Regan from BBC2's Horizon came into Fruit Towers to talk to us about our superfoods range and investigate the science behind the word 'superfood'.

We had a good chat with the Professor, and put forward our point of view, which is that all fruit and veg is amazing, and that there are certain fruits that have extra, measurable benefits, and they are the ones that we call super. Professor Regan’s opinion was that the fruits we call 'super' are nutritious, good for you and should be eaten, but there was no empirical evidence to support the name 'superfood'. We also went on to say that whilst people still don't understand exactly how and why fruit is so amazing (because the scientific research in this area is all quite new), one thing is clear: fruit and veg is good for you, and we should all eat more. And everyone, from the World Health Organisation to Professor Regan to us, agrees on that.

If you did miss Hotel Babylon, Alan Davies played a celebrity chef called Otto Clark and there was a joke featuring a lobster.

gardens up for grabs

Box o' veg

A few weeks ago we met Mike from Rocket Gardens. Mike and friends grow little organic seedlings and send them off in bio-degradable pots to people that want to have a go a growing their own veg.  It's pretty simple; you buy a voucher from them, and they send you the box straight to your door when the baby plants are ready to be put in the ground.  And a few weeks later you'll have your very own mini allotment full of veg and salad leaves.  Lovely.

What's even lovelier is that Mike would like to give three gardens away, just in time for Mother's Day (yes, it's this Sunday). 

To win a garden for your Mum, just share with us the wisest thing she ever told you.  Answers on a postcard (or as a comment) by 2pm on Thursday.

Good luck

A Rocket Gardens voucher

Mike and Claudia watering the lettuces

'erbs

designers of the future

We had loads of great entries to our kids design competition. After some heated debates and a few sulks, we whittled them down to a shortlist of finalists and our grand judge, children's author Lauren Child, then chose the overall winners.

Each winner not only gets a year's supply of smoothies and a visit to their school from one of our DGVs, their designs will also feature on our kids smoothies cartons this summer.

You can see all the winners and runners up in a bit more detail in our winners gallery but for their world premiere, we thought it only right to showcase the winning entries right here:

Top prize winner: Holly J aged 7    Favourite fruit: Strawberry

Well done to Holly. The judges were particularly impressed by her astronaut dude as well as her activity of making a walkie talkie from two kids cartons and a bit of string. This was rigorously tested in our car park by Tansy who can confirm it works a treat.

Top prize winner: Max H, aged 9    Favourite fruit: Peach

Lovely use of colour and a keen eye for detail in this design by Max. The judges also liked the fact you needed a friend to play the fruit tasting game with and that in the process, you got to try lots of different fruit as well.

Top prize winner: Lizzie N, aged 12.   Favourite Fruit: Cherry

What a cracking idea by Lizzie. The judges just loved how she made Sudoku into Frudoku. Some really good drawings of fruit along with an excellent bearded lady dude made this entry our designer Kat's overall favourite.

Top prize winner: Charlotte E, aged 16 Favourite fruit: Mango

The judges liked the idea of of combining making something cool with recycling. Charlotte's idea to make your own bin out of a smoothie box means you get 'a cool bin and a cleaner planet'. We couldn't have put it better ourselves, Charlotte.

Thanks to everyone who entered and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for these winning designs on shelf this summer.

beautiful manners

Amy, who came up with one of the winning captions for our bottom of the bottle competition, sent us a photo letter to say thanks for her prize.

Practical, witty and blessed with such impeccable manners, her granny must be very proud.