Post-Christmas sales

Did I get there too late? Or are this year's Christmas sales a bit meagre and paltry? I went into town yesterday, and was surprised to find it fairly quiet for a Saturday lunchtime. I wandered into a few shops and found nothing but a load of sub-standard, often shop-soiled or damaged old tat, on offer in the sales. Wilkinson was especially disappointing, with barely any sale items, apart from some tired-looking artificial flowers and ghastly, naff ornaments.

That said, I did pick up a nice little water filter system in there for £4.99, complete with a one-month cartridge. It wasn't in the sale, but was excellent quality for the price. It's Wilko's home brand, and far better at its job than more costly Brita systems. Plus the replacement cartridges, again Wilko, are only £4.99 or thereabouts, for three. I did hesitate about buying it, although I've bought plenty of Wilko brand products in the past and had no problems with them. But so far, I'm very pleased with it, as my hot and cold drinks taste much nicer with filtered water. I'm also giving the cats filtered water, in the hope it will help Liberty's kidneys.

When finances allow, I'll be popping back to Wilkinson, to pick up one of the old-fashioned whistling kettles they have in there. My electric kettle is hideously furred up and I refuse to use it, so I'm boiling filtered water for drinks, in a pan. I've tried everything to get rid of the limescale in the kettle: lemon juice, vinegar, proprietary limescale removers, and even the good old-fashioned Morning Fresh, scourer and elbow grease method, but the vile filth persists. So the kettle has been officially retired, and will be replaced by something that can be scrubbed out every day in the dish bowl, and will never boil anything other than filtered water. The last twenty four hours have been bliss, as my tummy's really settled down. Tap water may be free of disease, but it still harbours pesticides, herbicides and other pollutants. So get filtering!