28. Indomitable kidneys

In Hong Kong, the water from our pipes often runs a cheery brown colour, as rust or sediment or something awful flakes from inside the pipes and into our sinks, our showers and (for the very richest amongst us) our baths.  Then there's the carcinogenic paint that some cold water tanks are painted with, to keep them from corroding (corroding because the water has some special ingredient, perhaps, that's being adulterated into the reservoirs to improve our productivity / tamp down nascent desires for democracy / make us more susceptible to buying 2 for 1 offers at Park N Shop International).  I'm not even going to mention the fact that countless cockroaches, both German and American, are at this very moment falling dead into water somewhere, festering at the bottom of the tank, slowly decaying and becoming part of our water supply.  Why harp on about all the reasons that the water in Hong Kong is possibly (and I'll whisper it, for those of you who are easily shocked) not very good for you?

Why indeed?  Only to point out that this is not a worry for me.  I am blessed with a mighty pair of kidneys, more than capable of taking whatever H₂O shenanigans the government, my landlord, or the entire genus of crustacea may try to throw at me.

That's right.  I don't need to drink distilled water, expensively purchased in a plastic bottle from the local supermarket or convenience store.  I don't need to sip on mineral water flown in at great expense from Fiji and packaged in a nominally environmentally friendly container.  I don't even need to avoid the risk of cholera (but that's because I don't live in the nineteenth century, I think, more than anything else).

Why am I so blithely unconcerned?

Because (and I don't like to boast) I am blessed with a mighty pair of kidneys, able to process whatever disgusting and noxious chemicals might be sent my way.  Brown water!  Ha!  I piss on you!