The last day Lizzie & Russell were in town we met up for a final drink and tapita together, and Lizzie gave me this very thoughtful gift. I think in part because she had been dismayed by the stack of plastic mineral water bottles she saw at my house. In fact, I even apologized for this when they first visited Caza Azahar, because I know it’s a shitty practice.

Thing is, when I first moved to Sevilla in 1993 the city was in the throws of a months-long drought and water was being rationed. But even the water that was available was being taken out of the nearby filthy river, quickly treated, and sent to the city. And well, it may have been safe to drink, but it stank like a fouled swimming pool, and tasted, well, just like that. Even showering in this water was unpleasant, and that’s when I started buying mineral water. It became my thing, just what I did.

In general the tap water here is fine, and tastes okay. Though in my opinion it’s always better served cold. Though of course I happily use it to make coffee, cook with, etc. And I even got into a new habit of making up jugs of lemon water, especially in the summer, which I would have on hand to drink during the day, also using tap water. This cut down on my mineral water purchasing considerably, since I drink at least 3-4 litres of water a day. But I still had bottles of mineral water on hand, basically to take to bed with me. I’ve always been a bad sleeper, and wake up several times a night. And I always drink water each time I wake up. So my habit was to take a chilled bottle of mineral water to bed.

But now I have this lovely thermos bottle, that I can fill up with chilled tap water before going to bed, and it stays nice and cool all night. This 500ml bottle is actually a bit too small to see me through the night, but it will be great for travelling. So now I’ll be getting a 750ml – or even 1L – version for my bedroom. And those plastic bottles will soon be gone. I mean, I do put all my plastics, glass and paper in the recycle bins near my house, but of course most of it never actually gets recycled. So I am happy to have this new option. Thanks Lizzie!