the wonderful world of vending

 

A couple of weeks ago, we featured Charlie, Helen and Andy's thrilling encounter  with a pizza vending machine in France.

Since then, lots of you have sent us in photos and tales of more vending machine magic and we thought it was only fair to share these convenience gems with all and sundry.

So here's a Tony Hart style gallery of our favourites.

First up is this beauty that Tom took and sent to us from Southampton.

  

Judging by the vending slots, there appear to be just two serving sizes. 'Small' and 'Greedy'.

Lucy found a machine in Amsterdam which sells everything from 'instant' fry ups to fishfinger sandwiches.

Whilst over in Toronto, Frankie found a machine that sold worms.

In Frankfurt airport, you can buy gold.

That's right - solid gold (thanks to Maggie for the link).

And Angie wrote a little lament about the hamburger and chips vending machine that once graced the canteen of her local hospital in Birmingham but alas is no more.

However, the winner for best vending machine photostory must go to Vicki for the state-of-the-art vending potato machine she documented near her home in Leuven, Belgium (which also boasts a brooadautomat nearby which sells bread).

 

To buy your potatoes, just open the door and pop your money in the machine.

Remove spuds carefully.

 

And then get your dad to carry them home.

 

It's open all year apparently.

Handy to know if you ever find yourself with a sudden tuber craving in the middle of the Flemish countryside.

tattoo'll do nicely

Ink. Skin. Needle. It's a pretty big (not to mention painful) commitment.

Maybe you've thought in the past about getting 'Mother' tattooed on your bicep. Or Wendy perhaps. No? Not even a little bit? Don't you just envy those rock stars with their gloriously ink laden bodies?

Well, one rockstar up in Scotland (by name of Martin) has gone and got his very own innocent tattoo.

Here he is on tour with his standard rider.

Now that's what I call rock'n' roll.

(Thanks to Helen for sending us this pic in)

(Posted by Jay)

cake by post

 

Di came along to our AGM the other week and after seeing how partial we all are to a bit of cake, she very kindly sent us some of her Suffolk rusks in the post.

They taste lovely warmed up with some butter and some jam (according to Kat H).

Thanks, Di

a little film about our AGM

Jim (or Fit Jim as he is known to the ladies of Fruit Towers) has made an excellent little film all about our second AGM that we held a couple of weeks ago.

Cake, questions, a bike called Sherbert - it's all captured right here, in full technicolour video format, for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy.

(Sadly there are no close ups of Jim. He's a professional/modest sort of chap like that)

our new book

We've just written a new book all about innocent.

We say just. We've actually been talking about writing one for the last few years but it took us a bit longer than we anticipated (lots of looking for old photos, trying to remember everything that's happened and what not). 

Anyways, we finished it just after Christmas and it's now available in Waterstone's, Amazon and all the usual places.

In a nutshell, it's the story of our first ten years in business and is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, bring fresh thinking to their current one or has been told their idea won't work. 

After all, innocent is a business that almost didn't happen (we were turned down by every bank in the land) so we hope by telling our story we can encourage other people to have a go at doing their own thing too.

Even if starting a business isn't on your to do list, the book does a neat job of summing up our first ten years. And there are lots of pictures. Very important. 

You can also watch this little film that the people from Waterstone's made when they came in for a look round.

and the innocent masterchef 2009 is...

Back in February, you might remember we had our own version of Masterchef, with our veg pots starring centre hob.

We whittled all the entries down to 6 semi-finalists, asked you to vote for your favourites and then a few weeks ago, our 3 finalists came into Fruit Towers to do culinary battle.

Nina, Roisin and Laura cooked up a storm and after some heated competition, spoon bashing and creative potato mashing (fork, mango juicer and finally, blender) we have a winner.

You can watch the video here, see who reigned supreme on the day and maybe nick a few ideas for your tea tonight.

(Big thanks to everyone who entered, our lovely finalists, excellent judges, Olly the cameraman and the wonderful Lucy T for being such a star on the day)

big well done

 

As part of our 10th birthday celebrations last week, we gave the members of our family a chance to bag themselves an innocent birthday box, packed to the brim with innocent goodies, like tshirts, books and a  vatful of smoothies.

Listed below are the lucky folk who will all be receiving their goody box very soon.

 

Thanks to everyone who entered.

If you fancy joining our family and getting in on some of the bagsying action as well as weekly news updates like this, then simply pop your details here.

love on a bottle

You might remember we ran a little competition a few weeks ago called WLTM (or for you acronym haters out there, Would Like To Meet)

You had to write your own WLTM ad in no more than 90 words and the best one would win pride of place on one of our bottle labels.

After sifting out the rude and slightly stalkerish entries, we managed to whittle it down to two winners.

First up was this entry, penned by Looby:

Hello. Are you normal? When I say 'normal', I mean, you know, 'normal'? Of course, it'd be nice if you have a sense of humour, some friends, a job, a car, maybe a house, aspirations, dreams, ambition etc, etc. I'd like to get married and pop out a baby before I'm 80, so if you're interested please reply to Box 36.

And then this one which was composed by Richard:

WLTM Nicole from the Renault Clio ads (circa 1992) and re-enact said ad, only with me taking Papa's place and us not being related. Feel this is a reasonable request. Please reply to Box 184.

Thanks to every one who entered and a big well done to both Looby and Richard. Keep your eyes peeled for their words of wooing on a shelf near you very soon.

Meantime, if you're still looking for love, why not GAFYK, maintain a GSOH and remember to LOL everytime someone attractive makes a joke. KWIM?

GAFYK - get away from your keyboard
GSOH - Good sense of  humour
LOL - Laugh out loud
KWIM - Know what I mean?

time flies

Two years ago Christine posted a picture to our pinboard of her new son Ashleigh in a custom made innocent smoothie carton nappy.

Then a couple of weeks ago she uploaded another photo of Ashleigh enjoying his favourite smoothie after a bath.

Time does indeed fly, in Ashleigh's world and ours.

WLTM

It's Valentine's Day on Saturday. Last year, we made a photo love story on a shoestring budget to celebrate. But this year, we thought we'd get you to share the love instead.

All you have to do is add your WLTM ad as a comment below, and the best one will end up on one of our labels.

What's more, we'll send you and the person you fancy a heart shaped case of each.

Here's an example of something we came up with earlier:

Gorgeous brunette on 8:38am to Colchester

You were wearing a red coat, drinking one of these smoothies. I was the shy, blond chap with the eyepatch. You smiled at me when you got off. Wish I’d asked for your number. Would love to take you for a coffee. Or maybe another 2 portions of fruit? You might think I’m odd, writing on smoothie bottles. But I thought this would be the best way to find you. And I’m just a hopeless romantic, taking a chance on love. With an eyepatch. If you read this, get in touch BOX 541.

Your word limit is approximately 90 words - that's what we can fit on the side of a bottle.

And to help get those loving thoughts flowing, here are a few more (slightly short) examples from the good people right here at Fruit Towers:

Remember, your ad needs to be no more than 90 words long.

And for those of you who tend to waffle on a bit here's a quick guide to LHA (lonely hearts acronyms):

WLTM - Would like to meet

GSOH - Good sense of humour

OHAC - Own house and car

OHAT - Own hair and teeth

Closing date is Monday 16th February. Happy love spreading.