Free the What On Earth one!

This is an appeal for help.

Our friends at What On Earth have posted a blog about a missing member of staff (sort of!).  We therefore wanted to spread the word to our buddies too, just in case they may know where the said person is.

Basically, What On Earth's salesman, George, has a beloved toy sat on his desk.  It's not just any old toy either.  This toy is Action Man. But, shock horror, Action Man has disappeared.  He was last seen in the office on Friday 15 July. 

The last photo they have of him is this:

What On Earth is asking anybody who may have seen George's Action Man to please get in touch.  You can email them at laura@whatonearth.co.uk or post your answers on our Facebook page, Twitter or this blog.

All present and correct in the office

As you all know Simply Nectar and What On Earth hit the streets of Shoreditch last week and I’m pleased to say that, despite the sore heads, we made it back to the office in one piece.  All of us too; we didn’t lose any stragglers along the way – not even those who got off the bus at the wrong stop a few miles from home.  Not mentioning any names of course.  Actually, there was one member of staff who didn’t return to the office, but Friday was her last day and our night out was her leaving do so we can’t really blame her!

So how was our evening?  Well, we had an absolute blast.  We started our antics in Storybox, a funky new pop up pizza joint that is based just seconds from Brick Lane.  It offers a fantastic menu full of different organic pizzas – and you know how much both What On Earth and us love organic pizzas!  With wine, beer and lemonade waiting for us when we arrived, we knew we were in for a good time as well as a good feed.  And that is exactly what we had.  Marta even got to try flapjack for the first time and I’m pleased to report that she is now an a big fan of its oaty, syrupy goodness.

A number of pizzas, salads and desserts later we were all content and as full as can be.  Even Rolf had a full stomach – funny that considering he didn’t get a meal because he was on a “diet”.  He just ate everybody else’s food instead!  He did do the washing up afterwards though so I think that was fair, albeit unexpected.

 

From Storybox we dashed out into the Friday night rain (thinking it was November, not June) and moved our party on to Brick Lane.   There we squeezed into a tightly packed bar and tried our hardest to raise our arms high enough to enjoy our drinks.  We eventually had to opt for straws to make it that bit easier!  Once the glasses were successfully drained we moved to somewhere a lot less busy, much to the disappointment of Rolf who seemed to have made friends with another group of people.  Charming!  We opted for somewhere in which we had space to move and could actually hear each other speak, and that quiet somewhere was in Spitalfields Market.  In fact we were pretty much the only people in there so we had as much space and quietness as we wanted.

The night went on and the drinks kept flowing, along with Rolf’s stories.  As the clock struck midnight we could see that the bar in question was eager to get rid of our ugly mugs so eventually we trundled off to seek homeward bound transport.  We all piled into various night buses, sitting tight for the journey home, and although it seemed to take forever to get back we were kept amused by the sights that surrounded us.  In that lot, perhaps our mugs weren’t so ugly after all!  I’ll let you make up your mind on that one.

The only thing left to say in this story is that we all got to our homes in one piece, fell into a deep sleep and lived happily ever after...or so we hope :-)

Simply Fun.

Simply Nectar

Watch out Shoreditch, we're coming to play

Lock up your daughters, hide your sons and take in the milk bottles because for one night only we at Simply Nectar and What On Earth are hitting the town and letting our hair down – apart from Jeremy as he sadly doesn’t have much hair to let down! Perhaps we’ll get the boot polish out for him instead so he can go out looking all shiny and new...!

North London will be our playground, pizza will be our food of choice and beer/wine/cider (the list could continue!) will be our tipple.  I’m sure the vodka will make an appearance too – Marta!!  Not too many drinks though because we’ve heard that the venue we’re dining in has no toilets.  Yes, you did read that right!  

No toilets to be seen!

Thankfully the next stop WILL have bathrooms and we will enjoy as many drinks as the bosses will pay for.  Come on Rolf, time to rid your wallet of all those moths.

So, where are these mysterious toilet free digs that we’re gracing with our presence tonight then?

Answer - We're visiting a funky little pop up place not far from Brick Lane. It’s full of pizza, cake, coffee and tea, and perhaps even some stories. Yes, that last bit was a massive clue.  Why?  Because it’s called Storybox (also known as Story Deli) but is set in the old Scooter Shop, hence the reason it has ‘Scooter Shop’ and the word ‘Vespa’ emblazoned on the cafe fascia.  Sorry, just thought I'd spell that bit out!

 

Storybox (courtesy of www.storydeli.com)

 

The cosy little shack serves up amazing pizzas, sumptuous salad, perfect garlic bread and even cakes.  All the food is 100 per cent organic too so it’s just up our street.  Not literally of course, as we are based in Battersea and Storybox is up in Shoreditch.   I’ve just looked at the menu and boy am I excited.  The general consensus in the office is exactly the same too.  WE CAN’T WAIT.  Spirits are high and everybody is gearing up for the fun night ahead.  One hour and counting!

Inside the Storybox den (www.storydeli.com)

If anybody wants to join us, come on up and say hello.  No promises we’ll be paying for you though.  Also, don’t forget to look for scooters, not pizzas, although I’m sure the delicious smell will lead you and your noses to the right address.  The raucous behaviour you'll be able to hear a few miles away may give it away too.

Come back next week to see photos of our night...let’s hope we all get home in one piece!

Simply Shoreditch.

Simply Nectar

Pack the Simply Nectar and let the festival fun begin

Festival season is officially here.  Hooray! 

The great British institution of standing in a muddy field on a rainy day while supping on cider and swaying to the sounds of your favourite bands is almost in full swing.  And I for one cannot wait!  The peg to peg tents, the warm alcohol and the overflowing toilets that stand behind half hour long queues.  Oh the fond memories I have.

As there are thousands of others who would agree with these festival visions, we at Simply Nectar are going to share a secret with you (because we’re a caring lot).  It is the secret that reveals how to ignore or embrace the aforementioned problems and enjoy the summer’s events to the max.  What is it?  Simply Nectar of course!  It is the answer to all your festival woes.  Drinking Simply Nectar will enrich your festival experience and will make it a summer to remember (not to forget in a drunken haze!)

Instead of waking up with a headache in a sweltering tent that is sat beneath the beating sun, get up feeling refreshed and clear headed.  Make sure you drink plenty of Simply Nectar throughout the day to keep hydrated.  Also, don’t reach for the cider, beer or warm wine when you wake up in the morning.  Instead give your body a break, grab a Simply Nectar and drink until your heart’s content.  You’ll be getting part of your five a day and you may even stand a chance of remembering the whole festival!  Plus, if it’s raining, Simply Nectar is pure sunshine in a bottle so you’ll definitely feel sunny on the inside.

Warm alcohol? Yuck! Reach for the Simply Nectar instead

This weekend is the perfect starting point to get your lips around some Simply Nectar.  In the next few days, the Isle of Wight Festival will celebrate its tenth anniversary and will lay on four days of live music action. Rock Ness is taking place in Loch Ness, Download Festival is rocking Donnington and London’s Clapham Common is playing host to some top music acts at Southern Sounds and Get Loaded in the Park.  What’s more, Hampton Court Palace Festival has started today and will keep going until Saturday 18 June.

Here are some other excuses to neck some Simply Nectar over the next month (and these are only the big ones...there are lots of smaller, lesser known gigs taking place too):

• Glastonbury – 22-26 June
• Hard Rock Calling – 24-26 June
• Blissfields Festival – 30 June – 3 July
• The Big Festival – 1-3 July
• Hop Farm Festival – 1-3 July
• Wireless Festival – 1-3 July
• T in the Park – 8-10 July

I’ll come back again soon with an update of all the other festivals that are taking place– just so you can see what other weekends you’ll be enjoying Simply Nectar.

Simply musical.

Simply Nectar

New Word Wednesdays land at Simply Nectar

Wednesdays.  Some people love them, some people hate them.  They are the “hump day” and the mid week marker.  Wednesdays are the day when we are teetering at the top of the ski slope, awaiting the downward ride to the weekend.  They signify the end of early week blues and the beginning of late week happiness.

Now, however, they are becoming something else entirely.  Wednesdays are entering a new world at Simply Nectar.  They will no longer be known as just Wednesdays.  From now on, Wednesdays are known as NEW WORD WEDNESDAYS.  Yes, that was in capitals because I was shouting it.  I was giving the name a bit of drama and I think you should too.  New Word Wednesdays are the way forward and they should be embraced by everyone and anyone.  Pass on the news and get your friends to take part in New Word Wednesdays too.  It will deepen those conversations and intellectualise your life (not that you’re not already intellectual of course!)



freeimages.co.uk



But why have we done this?  Well, it’s pretty easy really.  We at Simply Nectar are a bit of a simple bunch (see photo of George in our first blog for confirmation of this!) so we’ve decided to embark on a weekly task of learning new words.  Every Wednesday we will Tweet and blog new words for all to learn.  These words must be used in our (and hopefully your) vocabulary from now on.  OK, so perhaps not all of them can be used often – there will be many obscure words mentioned I’m sure – but the least we can do is try.

So, raise your cuppas,glasses, pints, Simply Nectar bottles etc to the sky and pledge allegiance to Simply Nectar’s New Word Wednesday. 

Right, here are some words to get you started.  We’re starting from A:

Absquatulate: v. Leave abruptly, depart in a hurry, decamp (Well, there you go. I may absquatulate soon)

Acariasis: n. infestation with mites or ticks; the itch (Wow, hopefully won't be using that very often)

Acciaccatura: n. Music, very short note played before a longer note; short appoggiatura (Of course)

Acetarious: a. applied to plants used in salads (Possibly not one to use overly often)

Achlamydeous: a. Botany having neither petals nor sepals (Every day is a school day – no matter the lesson!)

Use them wisely please.

Simply educational.

Simply Nectar

Simply Nectar brings back the sunshine for the Bank Holiday

Hurrah!  Another Bank Holiday is in sight.  And we all know what that means.  A lovely long weekend followed by a pleasingly short working week.  I can picture it now...the walks, the picnics, the lazy afternoons and the barbeques in the garden.  In fact, I’m imagining anything that makes the most of the rare three day weekend; anything that embraces the early summer weather that we’ve been experiencing of late. 

 
Cue my quick glance out the window.

Oh...it appears the sun has disappeared as quickly as it arrived.  The grey clouds have rolled in and have completely covered any sign of sunshine.  There isn’t even a sneaky splodge of blue peeping through the breaks in the clouds – probably because there are no breaks in the clouds.  The sky has become a mish mash of dirty greys and whites, much like a ski slope at the end of a dull, rainy day. 

And then it happens – the rain.  Right on cue.  Apparently, if the weather forecast is right, it could push on into the Bank Holiday.  Fabulous.  The dreams of squeezing one whole summer into a three day weekend have been banished from my mind.  It seems the days will be spent doing indoorsy type things and all that barbeque food will need to be cooked under the umbrella or in the oven. 

Oh the memories

No need to be too glum though.  Those visions aren’t too dissimilar from the British seaside summer holidays that were enjoyed as a child.  And how fun they were!  Plus, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put it, the best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.  Well said!  Let’s just let it rain and let’s try and enjoy it.

Let it rain

What’s more, if you knock back lots of Simply Nectar it’ll definitely be summer inside.  With all our refreshing flavours, our drinks can make you feel like you’re lying on a beach in the hot sunshine, staring at blue skies, rather than sat huddled under an umbrella munching on burnt sausages and burgers.



Pure summer sunshine in a bottle



Embrace the Bank Holiday – whatever the weather.

Simply rain.

Simply Nectar

Simply Nectar embraces the new

Hello!  Welcome to our brand new blog.  This suits our brand new look and the brand new flavour we’ve just introduced to our range.  Wow, 2011 is certainly an exciting year for Simply Nectar.  We’ve also got all technological and have joined Twitter (@SimplyNectar) and Facebook so please do come along and follow us, like us or give us a poke!  You can come and give George a kick too if you want...

George...the man himself

So then, back to the rebrand.  That’s right, Simply Nectar has a fancy new look and we cannot stop shouting about it – you can help us with this as well.  Shout it out at the top of your voice!

How have we changed?  Well, we’ve decided to become all modern so we’ve spruced up our logo as well as our bottles and labels.  We got rid of our 33cl bottles and replaced them with 25cl ones so all you guys could enjoy a smaller dose of Simply Nectar in one sitting.  The new bottles are also easier to carry around and are a lot more attractive, even if we do say so ourselves!  Our labels still feature our traditional trademark Simply Nectar beauty (who we like to call Sally!) but they are now much more contemporary and eye catching.  What’s more, the flavours are now wrtiten in English.  We took off the French wording and replaced it with our delightful mother tongue, so now everyone knows which flavour to go for.

Talking of flavours, we have a new exciting addition in our range.  We have launched our very first berry drink – the new Simply Nectar Raspberry, and it is simply delicious (see what we did there?!)  It offers a beautifully balanced blend of sweetness and subtle sharper notes, offering a refreshing and sophisticated flavour to suit all taste buds.  It is also a pretty pinky red colour so is as tempting as it is tasty.

Our new bottles are on sale now so get out there and see them for yourself.  If you cannot wait until then, here is a sneaky close-up shot of our new raspberry drink in all its rosy pink loveliness.

Simply beauuuuuutiful! 

Simply Nectar