The occasional school trip to France many years ago may have expanded my vocabulary less than a single Eddie Izzard routine (est-ce que le singe voulez allez a la chambre?), but it did leave me with a taste for sirop menthe, a vivid green mint cordial made up into refreshing beverages with water, lemonade or (if you’re really strange) milk. I’d never seen it in the UK, so had to rely on friends and family bringing back the occasional bottle from holidays for my fix (never mind the cheap fags and booze, just some mint syrup for me), but wandering around the local supermarket yesterday there it was, a row of cans next to the bottles of weak lemon drink. Huzzah! I’m off to see if drinking a whole bottle over a weekend can turn you green…