20 July 2019

Fizziness

We like fizzy water - otherwise known as soda water. It's a guilty secret.

On Thursday evening I visited the "Argos" counter within "Sainsbury's" to exchange two "Sodastream"  CO2 gas canisters. I never guessed how expensive this transaction would be with a fresh canister costing £14.99 or about US$20. Our son Ian bought us the "Sodastream" unit as a Christmas present saying, "Yow won't need to buy bottles of fizzy water any more!"

Now I have discovered that buying two litre bottles of fizzy water from Lidl was far more economical than using the Sodastream. At Lidl their two litre bottles cost 19 pence each - around twenty five US cents. It is hard to weigh up the comparative environmental costs on this one.

Okay the Lidl water comes in plastic bottles but we were always assiduous about recycling them. The Sodastream canisters have to be transported to the UK Sodastream plant many miles away and then brought back. Sodastream have created a kind of monopoly and their environmental credentials are not as convincing as they might at first appear. As with most companies, profit is the omnipotent king.

Consequently, I am not certain that we will be exchanging CO2 canisters again any time soon. 

I took a big detour on the way home and parked Clint on the edge of White Edge Moor. There's an old gamekeeper's lodge nearby. I have referred to it before. See here. I walked along the track and secured a few photographs in the declining light but by the time I reached the lodge itself a bank of cloud over the western horizon was obscuring the familiar golden orb.

Oh and please don't worry, I am not planning to write a ghostly thriller titled "White Edge Lodge" any time soon. I'm still getting over "Stanedge Lodge".

30 comments:

  1. Each day I drink lots of water, but never soda water; or any fizzy drinks, for that matter.

    Our mountain water is crystal clear, pure and beautiful.

    I'm often amused, and bemused, when I see shelves of bottled water in our supermarket, and in the trolleys of local shoppers. Some of the bottled water they purchase is probably from here on the mountain.

    Each week, probably every day, trucks from Brisbane's Coca-Cola factory, and from one of the breweries take water from the mountain's aquifer.

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    1. The tap water in south west Sheffield is also very nice. Maybe we should try to wean ourselves off fizzy water.

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  2. My drinking water comes straight from the tap, and I drink it as it is. No bottles to carry (or to recycle), no SodaStream device taking up room in my kitchen, no fuss. BUT...
    ...I like a fizzy drink every now and then, too. When it is really hot, an ice-cold diet Coke or "Coke Zero" is so refreshing. On summer weekends, a G&T (with the tonic water being fizzy, of course) or an Aperol Spritz (fizzy, too) or just a plain glass of champagne is very welcome.
    Therefore, my household is not entirely free of bottles, and of course I have to carry them from the shop, and the empty ones back there for recycling.

    The idea of renting such a remote place as a holiday cottage is intriguing - not possible to get there without a car, I guess. (or a very long walk!)

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    1. Yes - a car would be vital if you were renting White Edge Lodge.

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  3. I drink tap water, all the time, better for the bank balance, better for the environment.

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    1. We do drink tap water but we have got in the habit of drinking fizzy water with meals. We should follow your example.

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  4. I like my grape juice to have a bit of fizz in it!

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  5. I like fizzy water just occasionally. I did briefly consider getting a soda stream and decided I wouldn't use it enough.

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  6. I drink fizzy water with meals, but only when we have run out of champagne.

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    Replies
    1. That means you NEVER drink fizzy water!

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  7. You could make water kefir and then you'd have fizzy water without bottles or gadgets.

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    1. I will have to look up the word "kefir". It sounds like a racist white South African term.

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  8. I bought my daughter and her family one of those soda stream things for Christmas too and they have also found the replacement cartridges to be expensive.
    I'm with the tap water crowd. I drink LOTS of it.

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    1. We may have to train ourselves to forget the delightful fizziness.

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  9. I like tonic water....mixed with a good amount of gin. :)

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    1. Same here, Jennifer! *clinks glasses*

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    2. "Come on you two girls! Time to go home! You are both slurring your words!"

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  10. Interesting. There are often hidden environmental costs in products or processes that at first seem environmentally sound. Even recycling seems like a good idea, but we in the West were shipping a lot of our recycling to China for processing. How environmentally sound could THAT have been?!

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    1. Yes. Weighing environmental impacts up is very hard indeed.

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  11. The Water. Number one thing I miss about my previous mountain home. The beautiful, sweet well water from a 750 foot deep aquifer.

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    1. Hell - I wouldn't want to fall down there!

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  12. Reminds me of the single cup coffee makers with all their plastic and foil waste . . . It can be hard to find good taste, convenience, and environmental acceptability all in one product. Some folks just don't like the taste of water, but I drink it most of the time now and feel better for it. I think I was dehydrated for years!

    One approach which I feel has merit is to do the best we can with most of our choices, but allow ourselves some leeway to enjoy a few choice things without undue worry about the costs. It's the same approach I use for frugality, too - be frugal in most things so I can enjoy a few splurges. It's also surprising how much more I appreciate occasional treats or splurges when they truly are "occasional".

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    1. Jenny, I can only applaud your comment - very level-headed and balanced. As for the coffee makers with aluminium capsules etc., I would never have one of them in my home and don't like using them if I happen to be at a client's who has them.
      Yes, treats are even greater when they are not an everyday thing.

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    2. The important thing is that we are thinking about our choices in relation to the environment and wastefulness. If only such thinking was more prevalent in China and India and Russia and many homes in the USA - including The White House.

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    3. Librarian, thank you for those kind words. I think people should have some enjoyment in life but we need to think, too :)

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  13. Dear M.Howden,
    Earlier on in the month of July 2019, I created a story about Stanedge Lodge and posted in here on my blog. There are four blogposts entitled "Story" if you would like to read them. I always think of Stanedge Lodge as a rather mysterious and inaccessible property.
    Kind Regards,
    Neil
    (Yorkshire Pudding)

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  14. Hi Neil - thanks for the reply and I'll be sure to look up the story! I've previously heard rumours of horror films being shot in/around Stanedge Lodge, perhaps back in the 60s/70s. Don't know if you (or any of your readers) know anything about that?!

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    1. I doubt that anyone who visits this blog knows more about it than you and I do M. Howden. I live at Banner Cross (Ecclesall) Where do you live? And what does "M" stand for?

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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