You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Following on from the [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/things-you-simply-cannot-bring-yourself-to-pay-for ]what won't you pay for[/url] thread,
There's a lot of hate on there for bottled water; the general consensus seems to be that it you buy water in bottles then you're clearly some deranged, drooling gibbon who probably shouldn't be let out alone in public.
This is all well and good, and being Northern, I have a nice healthy supply of drinkable water piped into my house, which I enjoy on a daily basis.
However. When visiting my girlfriend who's currently working in That London, the stuff that comes out of the taps is grim. I think must be drained directly from the Thames. It's so hard and calcified that it's cloudy. Boiled water comes out of the kettle a sort of pale blue with lumps of limescale floating about in it.
Now, I've been getting around this by getting a man in an orange van to deliver bottles of drinking water at something like 40p a gallon when he brings the rest of the week's groceries. But clearly (ho ho!) the considered view of the STW hive mind is that this is the actions of a mentalist, someone who might have been called a spazmo joey mong when I was at school. Or perhaps a bender, it was a long time ago. Chinny reckon?
So anyway. What's a fella to do? Would some sort of water softener help? I can't do anything with the plumbing as it's a rented flat. Britas water jug? Something else?
Is it normal for me to have to boil out the kettle with acid once a fortnight to loosen some of the larger flakey lumps? Does London generally have semi-translucent tap water, or is Something Wrong that I can complain about?
Or do I just stick to Sainsbury's [s]finest[/s] cheapest, and get a bell for my neck?
drinking tap water gives you man boobs ...
Britas down here in bleachy tap watered Brighton.
Out the tap it tends to taste like it's being drained from a swimming pool.
I tend to only drink water, and its lovely in Yorkshire (well specifically Bradford/Leeds way)
Its grim awful stuff in the Midlands and London though and I just buy bottled stuff.
Britas water jug kept in the fridge. Sorted.
The Brita jug my folks have does wonders for their scuzzy Warrington water.
Our Sheffield stuff is lush fresh from the tap 🙂
Drink beer like your ancestors; it did them no harm.
We take a few bottles of our lovely scottish tap water down when staying at my parents in london town. Their water is grim.
Britas water jug kept in the fridge. Sorted.
Ah but I bet that works out more expensive than buying bottled stuff. Besides I could be arsed carrying a water jug with me every time I go to that there London.
[i]it did them no harm.[/i]
Although they were often heard to complain that their cups of tea tasted 'a bit hoppy'.
I'll fill you a 200 gallon drum from work if you've got somewhere to keep it. And means of transportation. And less than half a brain.
40p a gallon seems like a nice price for what your doing though, keep doing that, balls to the nay sayers.
Lovely Welsh water piped in under gravity from the Elan Valley for me, London water is pretty horrible in comparison.
I've heard tap water gives you manboobs too. (i drink a lot of it and have manboobs)
I can't stand that northern soft water. Barely even notice you're drinking it. It reminds me of the same sensation as when you shake someone's hand and instead of get a firm shake back, you find out you're clutching a wet lettuce. If I drink a pint of water I want to feel like I've drunk a pint of water, not just swallowed some air.
They should sell the southern stuff up north and call it 'Hardness in a bottle'
Nothing wrong with London tap water you bunch of northern lightweights 😀
But clearly (ho ho!) the considered view of the STW hive mind is that this is the actions of a mentalist, someone who might have been called a spazmo joey mong when I was at school. Or perhaps a bender, it was a long time ago.
All tho' the above may/may not still apply to you, I would generally concur that if the tap water in your area water tastes and looks shite then buying it bottled is a no-brainer, (especially at 40p per gallon).
As a comparison I lived in Germany for 18 months - the tap water was warm and had a consistency similar to milk.
Hence everyone bought mineral water from the shops.
Out of interest - what are your GF's water rates compared to yours in Yorkshire?
Out of interest - what are your GF's water rates compared to yours in Yorkshire?
I think hers is included in the rent, I'm not wholly sure. And I don't live in Yorkshire, grr argh.
Mines crap.
Im envious of my friends in Wales who get the most amazing tap-water..
And I don't live in Yorkshire, grr argh.
presumption revoked.
Sometimes I get thirsty, but I am not near a tap. In such cases, I am often near someone selling bottled water.
So I end up buying it.
Its grim awful stuff in the Midlands and London though and I just buy bottled stuff.
The water in Birmingham (midlands) is actually from Wales and very nice indeed!
See here: [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elan_aqueduct ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elan_aqueduct[/url]
Yep a water filter jug is the only answer.
I remember scrubbing the bath in hubby's rented house in that London, it took an hour and still no shine 🙁
Was using Mr Muscle too.
Always gives me a warm feeling, when I'm up that Lunnon sailing on their reservoirs peeing down the leg of my wetsuit.. 😆
[i]Always gives me a kick when I'm up that Lunnon sailing on their reservoirs peeing down the leg of my wetsuit.. [/i]
well, as long as you've got a warm feeling about it.
Hah great minds, got the edit in first.. 😆
I should also point out, not being the discriminatory sort I have not denied the North a fair share of my pee..
There are several reservoirs up there that I have spread the joy and relief of a warm leg over the years..
It used to be said that London drinking water had passed through 7 people before it got to the sea, not sure if that's still (or was ever) true. I always thought it was soft though, having had all the hardness (which does you good) processed out of it.
Our water is pumped out of the Chilterns and is available from Thames water at a few pence a cubic meter or from bottlers labelled Chiltern Hills at a considerable premium. You pays your money and all that...
[i][smug][/i] mine comes from a spring in the field above the house straight to the tap and no water rates either [i][/smug][/i]
Two Brita jugs in our flat - one left out (mostly for filling the kettle), one kept in the fridge door for drinking.
Surely the trades description people have caught up with Thames 'water' by now. They're literally taking the piss! Then piping it directly into your home 😆
i live in croydon, and i drink the tap water. Its fine, then again i have lived here all my life.
im still alive.
We fitted a Abode Aquifier filter to the cold pipe on the kitchen mixer tap.
We change it once every 9 months at the cost of £20.
I was brought up in Kent and now live in Bucks. The naturally high calcium content water has contributed to my strong bones and teeth (that and cheese and toothpaste). And the water's always come out clear, unlike that funny red tinged stuff in Leeds in the '90s.
No problem drinking the stuff, but now I've got a water softener I wouldn't be without one in an area where the water's not piped from Wales. Soft water is great (although slipperier than hard).
My parents always look a little confused when I arrive back home in Holmfirth and can't get over the quality of the tap water up north.
Brighton tap water is rank, but I'm a bit de-sensitized to it after 10 years.
water softeners and filters are all well and good, but simply too faffy for me.
Tap water in that London is grim
Cheapo bottled stuff from supermarket FTW
Water from Birmhinham via the Elan valley is some of the best tap water in the UK, other regions in the midlands though does indeed taste grim.
You've actually got a girlfriend - of course the stw massive are upset with you.
Brussels water is equally hard so we gave in and got a water softener. It was noticeable that the cats would never drink the water from the taps unless desperate, a nice stagnant puddle was preferable 🙁
I remember scrubbing the bath in hubby's rented house in that London, it took an hour and still no shine
Was using Mr Muscle too.
Have you tried bathing more often?
Out tapalene is fine if you drink it fresh but left over night is grim! However one of my best mates is a manager at a factory in Buxton 😉
I have lovely chalk down filtered water over here.
Used to hate it when I first moved down from Glasgow, but rather like it now. Last time I went back to Glasgow the water was mingin', so I drank Irn Bru instead.
A Brita jug and filters for a year (drinking 2 litres a day) will cost approx £70.
At 40p a Gallon the same £70 will give you 2.18 Litres a day.
Bottled water wins 🙂
Ah well - even so, you seemd OK at firstAnd I don't live in Yorkshire, grr argh.
Yep, London water is terrible.
It's not the drinking of it though that's the worst. Obviously if you're in the smoke you feel dirty all the time. This isn't helped by the fact that when you get a shower you can never get a good lather on the soap going.
Filthy stuff. I expect they let eels wee in it.
[i]When visiting my girlfriend who's currently working in That London[/i]
Time for a new girlfriend, obviously.
The solution to this is obviously to get coca cola to relaunch Dasani.
Our water is really nice, friends from London always comment on how nice it is. Western edge of the Peak District, so probably the same as Buxton water.
The air is cold up here in Scotland and so is the tap water (plus it tastes nice).
I guess the latter goes to make up some of the former.