After Christmas I went – with the kids – to Berlin and the Christmas markets.

It was great have a Gluhwein (okay, a few), and to be back in Germany with the kids again, for the first time since 2011.

I’m in Germany most years, but the kids aren’t, so I found myself explaining all of the differences between our country and the one that we found ourselves in.

Obviously, they drive on the other side of the road. Everyone knows that.

But they also sell ibuprofen pills in 400mg rather than 200mg doses, making it a bit easier to get rid of my headache (from the Gluhwein!).

If you cross the road when the pedestrian lights are red, you could be arrested.

And they charge a deposit on all plastic bottles, and some glass ones.

In the supermarket two prices are quoted – the price for the drink and the amount of deposit, which you will get back when you recycle at the supermarket, in the form of a credit note to use against your next shop.

Which meant that we assiduously saved all our drink bottles and took them back to the supermarket so that they could be recycled, and we could get our money back.

The deposit was usually 25p per bottle, and one was 50p, so well worth doing it!

We are still discussing how to eliminate plastic in this country and whether we should introduce a similar deposit system, but one thing we can all do now to reduce plastic is use reusable drink bottles like this one from Jedz.

I love mine for travelling as I can fill it with my Matcha green tea, because, guess what, no one has that on the British Rail trolley service (surprise!).

Christopher takes his to school because it is solid enough to withstand being used as the football by Year 10 boys.

And Jedz contributes £1 from every sale to Charity: Water – a charity dedicated to providing clean water to people who don’t have it.

If you use this link – https://jedz.co.uk/discount/CAROLYNEW1058 – and put anything in your cart, you’ll get a 10% discount applied to your order, but don’t think about it too long – the discount expires at the end of the month.

Choose #planetoverplastic.

P.S. You can even have your Jedz bottle personalised, so no-one acquires your new drinking buddy, here’s the link to get your 10% off: https://jedz.co.uk/discount/CAROLYNEW1058