Britons consume 3 billion litres of bottled water a year.
That’s bad. Most bottled water is siphoned into PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles (that’s plastic to you). Of the 13 billion plastic bottles of all shapes and sizes sold in the UK last year, only 10 percent were recycled.

What happens to our mountains of empties?
Most are landfilled or incinerated, where only a tiny proportion of their energy value can be recovered. The rest become environmental pollution, a global menace - particularly in the ocean where, as the plastic slowly fragments, it poses a serious threat to wildlife. Every time you consume bottled water, you could be choking a penguin.

Bottled water leaves a huge carbon footprint.
Globally, nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, journeys that typically include boat, train and truck transport, racking up considerable water miles and carbon emissions. If they had frequent flyer miles, they’d be traveling business class for free, forever.

Bottled water is damn expensive.
In fact, it’s between 250 and 4,000 times more expensive than the stuff that comes out of the tap. And when all they’ve done is re-bottled filtered tap water, you can imagine why Big Business loves the bottled water industry. Talk about selling ice cubes to eskimoes…

Bottled water is often only filtered tap water.
It’s true. According to the independent beverage research company, Canadean, at least two out of every five bottles of water sold around the world are simply filtered tap water. Or 40%. So, they take municipal water that costs a fraction of a pence per litre and then sell it for £1.00 a bottle. Clever!

Bottled water uses up natural resources.
Worldwide, approximately 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year, and accounts for approximately 2.5% of the world’s oil consumption.

Bottled water ain’t so clean anyway
When the NRDC in America tested 1,000 bottles of water, they discovered that a third of tested brands contained contaminants such as arsenic and carcinogenic compounds in at least some samples at levels exceeding state or industry standards. And a study by Syracuse University found that “one fourth of bottled water had ten times the bacterial count of tap water.”

Bottlers can adversely affect ground water levels if they bottle more water than is naturally replenished.
Rivers are delicate ecosystems. Tapping springs and aquifers even on a small scale can alter the movement of sediment in nearby streams, which can in turn disrupt the local food supply.

Bottled water makes safe water expensive in developing countries where clean sources can be difficult to find.
As worldwide demand increases, the cost of bottled water is a significant burden for lower-income households in many developing countries.

Blatantly taken, word-for-word, from We Want Tap - a great place to find out about why bottled water is the Devil’s urine*

It does back up what I have thought for a loooong time.

*I made that last bit up.

Welcome!

Brookbank Bridge, nr Waitrose, around midnight (after beer and pizza with Bevvers).

Yes, it was time to celebrate the passing of another Weon Year and so we headed to Hyde Park for two days of music. The line up was pretty impressive and so we were assured a good time. Saturday was headlined by Clapton but in all honesty I was there to see Jason Mraz and John Mayer. Both were quality and I even really enjoyed Sheryl Crow’s set. I’ve never been a big fan of Clapton so we left about half-way through his set to miss the crowds and get an early night!

Sunday saw us take a ‘flight’ on the London Eye (thanks to the in-laws for the tickets for my birthday) which is well worth doing, especially if it’s a nice day! After that we went round the London Aquarium (I am a sucker for all aquariums) and then headed over to the Park to guarantee ourselves good seats for the second day. When the lineup includes Starsailor, KT Tunstall, The Bangles (!) and The Police (playing their last ever UK gig) then the early bird certainly does catch the, er, prime viewing position.

Tunstall was cheeky (I think I have a crush on her now), Starsailor rocked, The Bangles were the funniest (”In case you didn’t know, we have released a record this century”) and The Police were, as expected, awesome.

Add to that the fact that Germany lost to Spain in Euro 2008 and it was all in all an absolutely cracking birthday!

One feel swoop? I’m pretty sure you can get put away for that.

“But how could you ride with your bikes all being broken/stolen/set up for commuting?” I hear you ask.

Alex very kindly lent me his Trek Fuel Something-or-other (seen here being ridden by the man himself for an MBUK photoshoot) which I was pretty impressed with. ProPedal is a boon and now I plan to buy a Fox shock for the Orange (if I ever get it back). The saddle was a bit far back, making the bike a bit long for me, and the middle chainring was chain-sucking for all it was worth.

Still, up Sandy Lane, round the back of Leckhampton Hill, down, up and across to Birdlip, across for a couple of loops in Cranham, back to Birdlip, up Crippetts Hill (which was 100% new to me) and back down into Town was what we covered (most of it in the big ring for me). A blast but totally knackering.

Thanks guys - same time next week?