Lifestyle.

I grew up with Virol and cod liver oil. One was nice and sweet, the other was disgusting!

From about ten years ago, I started to use both again, but I did use the Virol when my kids were small so they know it. But it is not called Virol now, it is called Malt Extract. Virol must have been the brand name. That is the name my kids know it as.

As I am in my 60’s I decided to be a bit healthy with parts of my life, the virol part is not healthy as it is lovely and sweet, there is nothing healthy about that.

The cod liver oil I didn’t give that to my kids often when they were young, because from 1 to 10 where 10 is disgusting it comes in at 11!

For about the last five years or so, I have had the liquid cod liver oil most mornings as my morning routine. I look after the animals first, the house and the family and me last. I then take an orange, swill it under the tap, get my favourite little TKMaxx small plate, and cut the unpeeled orange into quarters. I get a table spoon and then go and sit on my favourite chair. I put a full spoon of the yellow stuff onto the spoon, then take it, and very quickly I take one of the quarters, without that orange, I would not be able to cope, I would be sick! The first one always does the trick, then I enjoy the other three. I have found some oranges, they are nicer than the others, each week. I buy the cheapest ones, at around 99p if they are not there, then I buy the next price up. Over the years, I have tried all of the prices from my local superstore, but an orange is an orange, it does the job, it takes away the bad taste.

Usually, I buy the cod liver oil from my superstore, where they would have buy two and get the third free! When it is my turn to be with Mum five days in the month, I bring along my cod liver oil and oranges and we have it before breakfast, Mum doesn’t like it, but she has dementia, so she has no choice, she has her oranges, that I have prepared for her into quarters and she enjoys it, and I always say when she has eaten her orange, “Nice orange?” She always replies, “Yes,” For the cod liver oil is forgotten, until I do it all again tomorrow morning. It’s for her own good, she did it for me, when I was young. Now I am doing it for Mum.

I have noticed recently, that the cod liver oil has shot up in price! It has gone up even more that it did the last time that I had bought the buy 2 get the 3rd free. So, what I have decided to do, is to not buy anymore when this bottle finishes. So instead of having a table spoon each morning, I am having a teaspoon instead, so it will last longer, I am still getting the goodness of it, into my body. I will carry on having the orange a day. I will wait until I see a special offer in another shop, a chemist, or a chemist type shop, then I will buy it. In the past, I have got it from Wilkerson, a good deal, but ours closed down, as did most of them in England.

The virol, or malt extract, that too has shot up to extortionate prices, in my local health shop! The Potters brand that I used to buy years ago, it looks like I will never be able to afford again, I have been reduced to buying a smaller jar and cheaper brand called Meridian.

Oh well, maybe one day, I will treat myself to the large Potters jar brand and a bottle of cod liver oil, and find a way to just take a small amount, once a week, so that it lasts me a year, that tiny amount, should still make a difference to my body. x