Some time ago, I was traveling in Canada for a bit and wanted to discover what the story was about those gigantic clear ice cubes I have started seeing in some people’s ‘Scotch on the rocks’ drinks. And guess what? It is a real thing, and there is a real market. I went to a bar in Vancouver, Canada, and they told me those cubes are generally called ‘King cubes’ and if I wanted one in my drink, it would cost me an extra dollar. Imagine paying for your ice cube, after having paid for your pricey drink!
I am not going to delve into it but if you are interested, just search for ‘king cube ice’ and you will find out that the ice mold is the ‘special’ thing. But the reason I am bringing this up is that just the other day, I came across an article about a new trend among the world’s privileged: To replace the regular water with expensive ‘luxury’ water!
This luxury water comes from the purest and most unusual of sources, such as volcanoes, melting icebergs, and monsoon raindrops. Needless to say, these sources are located in the most unusual of locations, such as the mountains of Bhutan, or icebergs of Norway.
So, while I read that over half of the world population experiences severe water scarcity for parts of the year, and anywhere from one in four to one in three people do not have access to clean drinking water, we have a burgeoning global business to tease the palates of the world’s elites who drink these fine waters as the commoner drinks Coke, or cheaper versions of wine and beer. Furthermore, these same elites can claim their ‘naturalness’ by claiming that they only drink water with meals!
On even a higher - and more somber - thought, while the planet is burning and then environment is going wacko, causing floods, monsoons, tornadoes, melting icebergs, and god knows what else, the elites cherish the taste of the fine waters these catastrophes make available to them. Oh lala, what an efficient self-reinforcing system!
Paris, July 31, 2025
Zeejay