The ‘early’ life and times of COCO the Springer!

 

I am proud to introduce to you COCO the punk rocking, eyelash nibbling, and hard working 4 month old Springer! Cute as pie and daft as a brush, COCO rocks Furners house in Henfield on a daily basis!

          Here day begins like any other. Awake by 7am for bum chilling wee’s in the garden before cuddles with her master/owner/best friend Charlie Laughton. After her daily mountain of Nutra ‘uber cool, organically processed, free range, home grown, zero sugar, fat – trace’ dog food her day really begins!

          In the Beemer she jumps riding shotgun all the way to work! Aerco is where she is based most days – Job title, Employee moral officer, bin sorter, dietician and fitness instructor!

Job Roles –

Employee moral officer – Hourly patrols of the office and warehouse spaces on the look out of anyone who seems to be slacking, annoyed or troubled. This is where her counselling degree comes into play. A little wag of her tail and a flutter of her eyelashes and she can melt the heart of even the hardest, crossed eyed accountant! Due to having very big ears she is a great listener although she has a terrible memory for faces but is great with smells!

Bin sorter – Processes and recycles office bins. There is not a bit of plastic she wont notice no matter how hard to try to hide it. This dog knows her compost from her landfill! COCO does sometimes get carried away and tries to get into the warehouse skips; physical restraint has to be used. On many occasions she has been close to being fired but her puppy dog eyes win over the MD every time.

Dietician – Due to her fussy eating habits, balance is key. Office food has to be either home grown, biscuit based or free from polyunsaturated lypo proteins. The slightest sniff of bacon fat or E numbers and she’s there giving her evil stare to make you feel guilty (and then makes you give her some as a bribe so she wont tell the boss)

Fitness instructor – Picking the laziest, sleepiest, most unmotivated worker for walks and more. She not only gives them pleasure and exercise but a, very mini, shoulder to lean upon in times of need. The worse the workers look the faster she runs!

          On top of all that good work she is doing she still manages to be the top chief chairmen’s complaint generator and seems to have a problem fitting in and making friends.

          COCO is only part time at Aerco and returns home by 3.30pm but her day is not over yet. Her second job as part time nanny/children’s entertainer begins right away. Its only when 9pm rolls around she gets to relax, listen to ‘the best of bread’ on vinyl whilst having a leisurely dinner, Rock out to the Sex Pistols and slob in front of the sofa ready for Gok’s Fashion Fix.

          At the end of the day COCO likes nothing more then to chill out in her own room, watching the world go by then drift off into a deep slumber which is normally disturbed by her snoring or farting to loudly. She dreams of days gone by when she was a, much smaller, pup going to gigs, drinking to much, Running around naked on a hot summers day, chasing butterflies and hiding scared from the chickens.

          Weekends are a lot more fun for COCO but I shall leave that until next time …..

TEA CLUB

TEA CLUB!

 

Welcome to Tea Club! My name is Sally Ayres and I am a bit of a TEA freak. I will be your host from here on in and I am very pleased to meet your acquaintance.

 

What is TEA CLUB?

 

Tea Club started in 2009 at Flat 17 Lydia Ann Street Liverpool! It’s a place to come, chill, natter and drink tea.

 

When I say drink tea I mean real tea, from a real pot with real milk and sugar lumps, none of this granulated sugar malarkey!

 

People come and go from week to week sharing their stories. Sometimes there’s laughter, others there are tears but the tea makes everything seem brighter by the end of the evening.

Tea Club has 25 members to date and is now branching out to the masses!

 

I have made a little bit of a discovery … My discovery came from some under cover research at various festivals over the year and was culminated at this years (2010) Latitude festival.

When Belle and Sebastian came on stage and asked …

 “Who is the crowd likes proper tea in a proper pot with real loose tea leaves?”

Almost the whole crowd raised their hands. I realised I was not alone and I got to thinking, why cant you get a decent ‘cuppa charlie’ at a festival?

 

It’s the one thing I miss whenever I’m ‘aving it’ at a festie. Waking up in the morning, hung over, sweaty from sleeping in a tent, smelling because of the massive lack of showers, TEA is what I want. Whether it be in a mug, teapot or by the bucket load, Anti-oxidant beverages is where it’s at!

 

£1.50 for a cup of tea that is advertised as fair trade but is obviously the 1 million tea bags for 3p variety that you get from certain, un-named (Asda), super markets.

Not only is in served in those polystyrene cups that squeak as you sip from them but they are stewed, covered in scum, COLD and drowned in milk.

Not pleasurable at all.

 

TEA CLUB aims to solve this!

 

 

A few hints of how to make the prefect cuppa!

 

1. Ignore everything the packet says about brewing time. Each tea is different and each person’s taste buds are different. Brew it for as long as you like but keep an eye on it. Once you see what looks like dust patches appear on the top you know it’s stewed. No good!

 

1. Don’t follow rules. Earl grey does not have to be served with a lemon, herbal tea is not just for hippies and English breakfast is not boring and can be drunk at anytime of the day. Make your tea however you want it. If you want Earl grey with a hint of lavender, a single sugar lump and a drop of milk then do it … It work’s trust me (and send you to sleep if you having insomnia problems)

 

1. Don’t squeeze the tea bag! This is why you get that harsh taste when drinking tea. Squeezing the tea bags allows the tannins to escape tarnishing the flavour of the tea.

 

1. Mugs are for daytime.

 

1. Teapots, cups and saucers are for breakfast.

 

1. Wherever possible use loose-leaf tea even in mugs. Loose-leaf tea has a higher concentrated amount of tealeaves then tea bags, which results in a stronger flavour. Cheep tea bags contain dust. When the leaves are chopped, normally the dust falls on the floor and is swept away. With cheap as chip tea bags (as mentioned before) this dust is put into the bags to make the leaves go further. You get a drink out of it but its nasty! Cheep tea bags are the beverage equivalent to Sovereign cigarettes.

 

1. Never wash a teapot. Rinsing with hot, not boiling water, is fine but no soap allowed!

 

1. Stir your tea as many times as you like … it makes no difference. If someone asks you to stir their tea 3 times to the right and one to the left, do it the opposite way round and I bet you they will never know.

 

1. Don’t waste your money on ice tea from the shop. Its so easy to make and taste 100 times better. Make a teapot of English break fast tea and pour into a jug. Add an equal amount of lemonade. Chuck in some fruit and a truckload of ice. Leave to cool and ‘Bobs your uncle, Fanny’s your aunt’ ICE TEA’s all round!

 

1. Tea is good for you! It contains anti-oxidants that help you live longer and it improves your memory. FACT!  

 

 

How is TEA CLUB gonna sort out This tea mess that’s seems to be happening at Festivals in the UK?!

 

The TEA CLUB tent!

A big selection of all your favourite teas from Twinning and PG tips to Smokey Earl grey from Fortnum and Mason and Camomile, lavender and rosehip produced by Pukka teas.

£1 per cup to take away.

£1.10 per mug to drink in.

£1.50 for a pint of green tea to help those gruesome festival hang over’s. Take away or drink in.

£4 for a box of your favourite tea.

£5 for a pot to drink in.

All come with as many free biscuits as you like and a smile!

TEA CLUBS tent will be relaxing, friendly, well decorated and fun. Full of fresh tea plants, information cards, gingham table clothes and the sound of conversation. Uplifting and welcoming. Tasty and refreshing. Pleasurable and tempting. Topped off with a ukulele playing staff member and gorgeous aprons.

 

FANCY IT?