Hard Times

Everywhere I've ever lived, water has just been water. I guess I've taken it for granted. You drink it, you bathe in it, wash your hair, brush your teeth, clean your clothes and cook with it.
My days in London are teaching me a new way to look at water, and here's the word: Water here is hard.
I first noticed it when I was drinking tea. The tea tastes okay, but leaves a yucky brown scum in the cup. When I put water on to boil for iced tea, I put the bags in and notice that there's a slight film on the water - sort of like the skin on cooked pudding.
Then it's the clothes. I came over here with the prettiest white shirt. It's kind of gray now. In fact, everything I brought over that's white is now gray. It's strange though - our sheets are white and our housekeeper changes them once a week. I don't know her secret but they are nice and white.
When my mother was visiting the grayish-white thing drove her nuts. One day she and Keith went to Sainsbury's to buy groceries. Mom goes to the laundry detergent section, looking for Clorox, or some British equivalent. She doesn't find one, so she asks an member of staff. He directs her to toilet bowl cleaner, which they refer to as bleach. But it isn't the chlorine bleach we're used to - obviously. Now, really, who knew Clorox wasn't found all over the world?
I wasn't there but was actually on the cell phone with my husband when I heard my mother's voice say, "How do you people get your clothes clean over here?" A great moment in diplomacy.
Alas, we found no bleach and the clothes are getting grayer every day ... but better them than my hair, right?
Hard water also does funky things to your hair. It's tough to get shampoo to lather and it's hard to get that squeaky-clean feeling we all like. So over the weekend, I decided I'd enough bad hair days to last me a while. I hopped over to Covent Garden to a favorite store of mine, Lush. (Don't worry - it's not a pub!) I've been bringing Lush presents back to the US since my first visit to London. They sell wonderful soaps and "bath bombs" - these huge fizzy balls you put in your bath water to make the water (and you!) smell wonderful. Lush has opened some US outlets, but none close to Charlotte so it still has that exotic cachet for me.
Lush has these cool shampoo cakes that address all kind of hair problems. Sure enough, here's a pink one made for those of us plagued by hard-water hair. It works wonderfully. You can wet it and rub it on your head or get your hands all lathery. Either way, I used it today and I finally have decent hair again. It's about time - I was beginning to get a complex.

Some random observations:
** We must be starting to look like natives. In the past three days, we've been asked twice for directions. And we knew the answers!
** I am starting to think in pounds sterling instead of dollars. I've learned my coins really well, too. So I can now actually pay for something instead of just throwing money at someone and praying they give me the right change.
** We met a nice American family in Wahaca, the Mexican restaurant, the other night. They are from St. Louis, moved here about the time we did and will be staying a year. They have a cute little boy who goes to the American school and really knows his subway facts. A kid after my own heart!
** It's not cold and it's not rainy. I thought it would be, but we've only had one really good soaking rain in six weeks. And we still haven't cut the heat on. People keep telling us we've brought nice weather. Don't think it's true, but it's nice to hear!