Dear LPG readers,

As members of the Pensioner’s Club of 2025, I wonder how many of us share a similar history of drinking habits.  Now, in my early seventies, my earliest memories are of those days when our parents had us drinking fruit juice, and junior school ensured we got our milk bottles each morning. As we transitioned to secondary school, drinks such as Cherryade, Tizer, and Whites lemonade became our favourites, and no children’s birthday party in the mid-1960s was complete without some of these fizzy drinks on the table.  

I remember that fruit juice was always around, but it was never as popular as something trendy and fizzy. Few people my age would settle for a publicly ingested drink of water for fear of being considered not ‘with it’ (unless it came from the school’s water fountain).

I have gone through phases when my favourite non-alcoholic drink was Coca-Cola and all its derivations available over the years. Not to mention all the Corona Soft Drink flavours. If you wanted to be seen as a bit sophisticated, Britvic Orange was the thing to choose. 

But suddenly, everything changed in the second decade of the 21st century. What we drink has gradually stopped being all about taste. We have had the smoothie revolution, and the health benefits of good old-fashioned water are all the rage again. This shift in our drinking habits is certainly something to ponder.  

H2O has always lurked in the background, but many older people remember when drinking water came out of the tap. The debate over whether bottled or tap water is best rages on, and although tap water is winning that argument, if the internet is anything to go by, we still get lots of it from the supermarket.  

I remember the sudden trend of using bottled water and the idea that a drink from the kitchen tap might have impurities.  All the recent talk about what some of our water companies have been doing with wastewater is enough to put anyone off being comfortable when it comes to trusting the filtered stuff they are offering.  But going on holiday to some of the more exotic parts of the world in my time has opened my eyes to how seriously the UK takes ensuring that the quality of water flowing from our drinking taps is reliable every time it takes that part of its recycling journey.

I have not yet talked about one sort of water: the trend towards the many water filtration systems you can have at home these days.  For those who are extra wary of the water we drink, many questions surround how much of the plastic that shop-bought bottled water comes in and gets mixed in with the water we drink.  We have also seen internet reports, some of which may be misleading or exaggerated, advising that many of us forget that those refillable water bottles, which are all the rage during our summers these days, must be washed more often and not just refilled when the water runs out.   

I have based everything I have written on personal experience. Still, my examination of the subject also leaves me wondering how many older people are more likely to gravitate toward a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Whatever the answer, there is much more to getting a refreshing drink of water on a hot summer day than meets the eye.

KC, Brockley 

KC shares some internet information…

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