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Loved and Lost

 It’s sad to hear that The Body Shop is closing down. As a teen and young adult, I loved this shop with its high ethical and animal welfare standards and exciting range of products. I was a big fan of the White Musk range and this stuff, too:


The Dewberry range, especially the shampoo. Sadly, as often happens when you find a product you really love, the Dewberry range was discontinued many, many years ago. Ah well. I remained a sporadic customer, dropping in if I passed a branch, developing a liking for their pink grapefruit selection. I was sad when they sold out to L’Oreal, who have animal testing issues. 

And then, yesterday, the sad news of the death of Steve Wright, a long-serving BBC radio presenter. This is how I remember him from my youth:

I used to listen to his show when I was a teen, then young mum and housewife. He wasn’t my favourite BUT he was a mainstay, a reliable listening experience that would often raise a smile on a dull day. He played great music! 

Life rolls on. You love, you lose, you move on. That’s how it works. 

This morning, I bought my first packets of herbs seeds for this coming growing season. That’s going to be my gardening focus this year - herbs and flowers. Too early to sow anything just yet although I do have some cress making a half-hearted attempt at germinating in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. I bought basil, sage, coriander, dill and parsley because they were the only organic varieties I could find in the garden centre. I’ll source the rest online. 

Currently, I’m doing a lot of research into the varied uses of herbs as medicines, cooking ingredients, cosmetics, dyes. It’s an ENORMOUS topic but a fascinating one - lots of history, botany, chemistry and folk-lore. I shan’t be taking any formal courses - my life history has taught me that I am a great one for going off half-cocked when I find a topic that interests me, and I waste money taking courses and qualifications that come to nought. Nothing formal, then. Purely for my own use and interest. Go with the flow and see where it takes me. 

And I can report that the swap from one Internet and phone provider to another went very smoothly and we are now better off to the tune of £41.67 a month! That’s over £500 a year! Of course, despite me cancelling the old direct debit, British Telecom STILL took the payment for this coming month even though we are no longer their customer, and then immediately refunded it. What’s all that about, then?Awkward baskets. 😠

Still, job done. Loved, lost, moved on. 




Comments

Anonymous said…
I have just bought a dehydrator, so that I can quickly prepare the herbs I grow for teas. A lemon balm/lemon verbena/chamomile combo does seem to be helping me sleep. With no garden herbs to try at the moment I experimented with bananas. Great fun! Takes a long time for bananas, 12 hours. Herbs are much quicker, 1-3 hours. It worked though. Delicious! Although dehydrator has a noisy air fan. Spent twelve hours thinking someone had left a kettle on..

Apologies for absence. The winter black dog has me by the throat this year. I am getting the better of it though. Slowly. Baby steps. Like the dehydrator.

Mrs Duck
Denise said…
Mrs Duck, only yesterday I was thinking about the purchase of a dehydrator for exactly the same purpose! I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the model you have. Your remark about the kettle made me laugh - Bambino has a water fountain and it hums, albeit quietly. Sometimes I think, ‘What on earth is THAT noise?’ despite the fountain having been in situ for years. Perhaps I should keep a radio on, you know, in the manner of odd noises coming from your car being cured by turning up the radio!!

Sorry to hear about your Winter woes. It seems to have affected more people than usual this year. I just want it to stop raining. My poor garden is like a quagmire. Sigh…
Anonymous said…
I'll email you later re dehydrator!
Mrs Duck
Anonymous said…
Hurrah! I can comment again! Yes, do look into a dehydrator they are great. Herbs, fruit, vegetables, you name it and you can preserve it.
KJ
Denise said…
Thanks, Mrs Duck!

KJ - hurrah! Glad the comments are sorted. Blogger can be a funny old fish sometimes. A dehydrator has been on my list of ‘Should I Buys’ for ages now. It seems like it is going to become my next bit of kitchen kit.
aileen g said…
I hated Dewberry but loved White Musk until I started earning better wages and could afford to upgrade to Estee Lauder. Back in 2020 I had been to the dentist and felt a bit sorry for myself after a filling so popped into The Body Shop on the way back to the car park and for some strange reason (nostalgia maybe?) bought myself some White Musk. 2 weeks later we went in the first lockdown so now I call it my lockdown perfume. I still prefer my Estee Lauder but have designs on some Jo Malone. I too have a habit of plunging all-in for a new interest or hobby and I am actually trying to sell some of the stuff I bought - again, oddly enough, just before lockdown. I do try to avoid buying kitchen gadgets as I don't have much workspace and find if I put things in a cupboard they never get used.
Denise said…
Hello Aileen! I do like White Musk although I haven’t bought any for a long while now. In fact, I rarely wear perfume. I had a phase of treating myself to Chanel No 5 and No 19 until I discovered their animal testing credentials were poor, so don’t buy those any more.
I hope you manage to sell your unwanted gadgets! Maybe the profits can be used to meet your Jo Malone hankering??

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