Places like Sydney have developed over the years a great coffee culture. Not far from where Caroline and Matthew live there is this coffee shop, dine in and take away. Some time ago Matthew and Caroline took us there.
The bottle you see in this picture is not a beer bottle but they serve water in these bottles. As soon as you sit down at one of the tables, someone comes with glasses and a bottle of water. I think it is a law now in Sydney, that when you go to a shop for a cup of coffee, they have to provide free water for you with the coffee. In some places you have to serve yourself from the counter where you find some water in jugs as well as glasses. Other places prefer to serve you the water to your table.
One of the waiters noticed that I was taking picture. Very politely we were asked then would we like to have a picture taken of all four of us. Happily we agreed. Here is the picture:
Matthew and Caroline are lucky: Where they live in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney all the shops they need are within walking distance or easily to reach by public transport. There are still lots of small shops in their street. However property prices in Waverly are enormous. Naturally, the rent they have to pay for their two bedroom unit is a lot. However they like the area very much and don’t plan on moving to a cheaper area. Not needing a car they save quite a bit of money which can go towards the rent. In most cheaper places they would not be able to survive without a car.
I think it is as good as official that if you drink strong coffee or tea you ought to drink some water too. For these beverages, namely tea and coffee, are diuretic, meaning you lose water which you need to replace if you do not want to become dehydrated.
Isn’t it important to stay sufficiently hydrated, especially in hot weather? I believe that this is so. I always try to think of drinking sufficient water. There is another reason why I try to drink a lot of water, it has to do with my tendency to bruise easily. And this is one of the reasons I am used to taking a lot of vitamin C supplements. Some people warned me, if I take too many of these Vitamin C tablets, I can develop kidney stones. Well, I have not developed any yet. Amazingly, as long as I drink sufficient water, any surplus vitamin C gets flushed out! For instance, if I get lose stool, then I know I have taken more vitamin C than my body needs and I reduce the intake a little bit.
I have been taking Vitamin C supplements since my early twenties (I am 79 now). I believe what Linus Pauling, the nobel prize winner, found out about Vitamin C, is right. My observation is that some people do all right without any supplements. Others, like for instance aborigines, badly need them if they are deprived of their traditional food. Some berries, they used to have plenty of in the bush, are extremely high in vitamin C. These days our fruit is usually not consumed fresh from the tree but comes from long storage in cool-rooms and loses some Vitamin C very quickly. Some of the traditional food, that aborigines used to eat all the time, had excessive amounts of Vitamin C, much much more than for instance oranges fresh from the tree. So how can you keep up sufficient intake of this vitamin without supplements if you are not in a position to get your supply fresh from the tree?
AuntyUta 
Great stuff 🙂
Thank you, Berlioz. 🙂
loved it! every nation has its own beautiful things to share.
Thanks for visiting my site, Sharmishtha. 🙂
I have never been a coffee drinker, so it’s hard for me to evaluate. I’ve only drank coffee twice in my life: once as a child out of curiosity, and once in Paris in 1973. The latter experience cured me of any further desire… I think vitamin C can help the immune system to a certain degree, but it is no panacea; both Linus Pauling and his wife died from cancer.
What about tea, Robert? Are you a tea drinker? My father used to love very strong tea with some milk. He brewed a very strong essence and then added hot water to this. The grandparents drank a lot of tea too. They liked to drink it out of tea glasses. I think this was the Russian way of doing it. Grandmother liked to have tea with lemon. But during the war, lemons were a rarity.
Peter and I restrict coffee drinking to two cups a day: One with breakfast and one in the afternoon. We have morning tea a couple of hours after breakfast. In the evening we have some more tea with skim milk, but sometimes we have herbal tea instead.
I think our immune system is rather complex. For instance in times of stress it can suffer a lot. Of course, there is no panacea, none whatsoever. But this does not mean that we cannot try to keep as healthy as possible.
One of our close friends died from cancer in her early forties, even though she always looked after her health in every way. Some heavy smokers die earlier than might have been their normal lifespan, other smokers live into their nineties. It all depends on a lot of things that we cannot be sure about.
I drink tea occasionally. I used to drink tea more frequently when I went to Russian parties that were given through UCLA… My Dad’s friend, Bill Nehrlich, just died at 90, and he had been a heavy smoker. But the odds are against living a long life if you do smoke. Probably genetics plays a key role; some people have better filtering systems in their lungs than others.
My mum smoked all her life. She died aged 83.
Peter’s father smoked all his life and died of lung cancer aged 74.
Peter smoked for ten years only. He gave it up when the price for cigarettes went up. I never smoked.
Nearly all Germans drink a lot of coffee, Tea not so much. If they drink tea, it’s usually very weak tea.
I like the French way of drinking coffee: Large cups in the morning with a lot of milk, and during the day rather strong coffee. Sometimes I like espresso after lunch, not so much in the evening any more. While in Paris I used to drink black coffee late at night. I was young then and thought nothing of it going to bed in the early morning hours!
Thank you for your comments, Robert. 🙂
My Great Grandmother Bertha gave me this advice: ” Don’t smoke, and read the Bible!” I took her advice, but I read the Bible out of curiosity and a desire to learn, not out of conviction.
I tried the occasional cigarette at a party. I never developed a desire for cigarettes.though. When I was young I was never encouraged to read the bible. Grandfather however often quoted some relevant pieces from it. The Grandparents lived in Lodz and we lived in Berlin. I still have some vivid childhood memories from the few times we were visiting in Lodz and my father’s extensive family talking around the dinner table with Grandfather always having to say the most and the whole family listening to him.
With the little bit I know now about the bible I try to work out some context to the times when it was written. I am very interested in contemplating what people’s lives were like thousands of years ago as opposed to our modern times.
I recommend taking a look at the Anchor Bible series. These books were written by people of different faiths, and their main goal was to present the most accurate translations possible, and point out passages which are still incomprehensible. There are also historical essays to put each book in perspective. Better to find them in libraries as the new volumes, especially, are quite expensive… You were most fortunate in having an extended family in which discussion was encouraged. My father tells me that he and his father rarely conversed.
Thanks so much for this comment about the Anchor Bible series, Robert. To be honest, I think I am a bit of a scatter brain. Serious bible studies are probably not my cup of tea with everything else that is going on in my life.
I converted to Catholicism in 1978. I found among Catholics some very open minded people with a great spiritual life. But I have a problem now to keep ;in touch with any of them. Peter is an atheist.Sometimes I think he is more of an agnostic. He does encourage me to go to church and pray for him! .-
I was attracted to Catholicism when I approached middle age. Before this I was very much an agnostic. I am of course aware that some people tend to be fundamentalist in their thinking. But I do not feel pressured to go this way, not at all. I still attend Mass fairly regularly.
My father’s extended family were great in having discussions about everything. Unfortunately I could not see them very often. Still, I have some very fond memories of them. My mother and her family were rather different in lots of ways.