Wednesday 2 August 2023
Day four of London-water tea and I finally can’t immediately identify the chemical taste of mains water. I had a bottle of spring water from our tap in Scotland so poured some of that into a glass, then matched it with a glass of our London tap water. I gave it to Chris to taste-test. Not surprisingly, he immediately identified which was which. I then tried them and, yes, probably even more dramatic a difference than I expected, very easy to identify which was which. But as Chris and I are well aware, there are a lot more pros and cons to mains water versus spring or borehole water. Now that our water supply seems to be good, I am of course preferring the spring water set-up.
I had another enjoyable London afternoon yesterday. I met my friend Rachael at London Bridge. We walked around Borough Market on a (failed) mission to find the Karaway bread stall which sells my favourite Borodinsky rye and coriander bread. Turns out that stall is no longer there on Tuesdays. We then walked along the river to Rotherhithe, stopping for a quick drink at Salt Quay pub, and round to Surrey Quays, where we caught a bus back to Lewisham. Lovely long walk and great to have a few hours of chatting and walking.
We both said it didn’t feel like it was the summer holidays, which is exactly what Duncan and I had said the day before. I suppose it is a lot to do with the weather, grey and breezy and nowhere near as hot as it was in June (thankfully), but there’s also something unholiday-feeling out and about. Well, I say that while remembering that walking between London Bridge and Tower Bridge there were zillions of tourists, and I also took a few touristy photos, including of the Morph statues, which are fun, and I used to love Morph. Probably still do in a way. Though seeing a not-small-enough-to-just-about-be-okay child lick a Morph statue between its legs was somewhat offputting.
Today, I have work to do, I need to return a pair of trousers I bought last night (so much easier to do when you can walk to the shop), do some food shopping, tidy the flat a bit for my friend Carla coming to stay on Thursday (a rarity, a friend staying with us in London, though she is one of two friends who has always visited and stayed with us here) and I might walk out for coffee at some point, having not done that since we got back and my realising today is my only free day of this trip.
My arms and face are still displaying Braille from the two midge attacks last week, one on Monday, so over a week ago, and one on Thursday. To add to it, a mosquito got into the bedroom last night and we both got stung. Different bloodsucking stingers but both horrid and annoying and both leaving unsightly bumps and blotches.