To wonder what is wrong with people who don't really drink

[OptimismvsRealism]

No - not alcohol

Just liquid

People who can sit down to a meal without so much as a glass of water

People who invite guests to stay but have nothing to offer them to drink oh and you'd have to boil the tapwater haha

I can't sleep from thinking about this

It's strange not to offer guests a drink if entertaining

So, they live in a house with no potable drinking water? I don't believe you.

Do they never make tea or coffee, or drink anything at all in the house?
Do they have electricity, mains gas?

Not in the winter. Where I was - in the north, near the Alps - it was actually colder in the winter and not that much warmer in the summer.

Yes, but some habits come from the climate was my point.
In any case, there is always water on the table in France too, but you have to pay for it in Belgium.
I do agree that water should be provided to guests, but these people obviously live in a strange situation for western countries where they don't have drinking water.
OP is actually expecting fizzy drinks and juices too though it seems, and certain types of water.

Usually tea or coffee though. I don't get juices and squashes in unless I'm expecting children and even then it's a minefield as I was told a certain child likes lemonade, but there was a language barrier and it turns out he doesn't like any fizzy drinks. I don't think a host is expected to have all the different kinds of drinks a guest might want.

Well I don’t really get thirsty tbh, I drink when I want something but prob not enough. I also don’t drink tea coffee or take milk so it doesn’t always occcur to me to ask people but I’ve got better at it. And i do have stuff in for other people in house but they need to tell me if milk is done as it don’t notice tbh

I hardly ever get thirsty and have to remind myself to drink but I do offer people who visit a drink.

I have had a gastric sleeve which means I can’t drink while I eat as it can make food “slide” down too easy and make you eat more. In my house the only drink options are water, tea, coffee and orange squash. No one else drinks anything else and unless we are expecting guests I won’t buy anything else!!

Having had my thyroid removed and my right lymph node removed due to cancer.Need something to wash down food while eating.

I’m with you on this. I always have a drink of at the very least an empty glass waiting to be refilled next to me.

It can work the opposite way around as well, though. I wasn't allowed a drink with meals as a child. My stepfather thought all children had some devious compulsion to avoid eating their food and asking for a drink was a trick to "fill up on water". I hated it and found it really difficult to eat. I remember getting slapped for sneaking a quick drink out of the tap while he was out of the room. I always drink with meals now, and so do my children. DH is more of a camel - he drinks about a litre of water in one go every so often, but doesn't need it the rest of the time.

I also remember being painfully thirsty at school, to the point of being unable to concentrate. It bemuses me when MNers say "we didn't have all this newfangled bollocks of swigging water all day, and we were fine". I can't be the only one who wasn't. Frequent UTIs and always thirsty, it was miserable.

Is anyone else wondering why the people the OP is staying with don't have access to clean drinking water, even after it has been boiled?

We only have tap water to drink. We do buy in bottles of fizzy pop if people are round, and we have tea and coffee and alcohol on offer too. But day to day for us and the kids, it’s tap water. Coffee for me too 😂

RampantIvy

even after it has been boiled?

Apparently they think that water you have to boil isn't safe.
Presumably even after it's been boiled.

Also the array of drinks that you seem to require are not good for you. I get this is a weird situ with the well, but water (tap and bottled) is the best thing for you to drink if you’re dehydrated enough that you feel thirsty (thirst is a symptom of dehydration) not 7up, cranberry juice and Diet Coke 🤔🙈

Im with you OP!

I hardly drink alcohol but I need water everywhere!! A bottle in my bag if I’m doing errands. One at the side of my bed. Always with a meal. I drink litres of the stuff. We need it!

I was round my nan’s for a Sunday roast the other week. Nobody had a drink with their meal. I just helped myself to a glass of water and though wtf is wrong with you all? How can you eat a roast without a drink?

I forget. Genuinely. I have to literally carry a bottle with times written on it!

I have ADHD - I sometimes forget to pee too and wonder why I hurt 🤦🏻‍♀️

My friends and relatives are warned to ask or just help themselves.

I am fully prepared to be flamed here, but why would an adult only drink what I consider children's drinks - sweet drinks and no water, tea/coffee or other hot drinks?

You have a charmed life if this is what’s keeping you awake

I like a cold non fizzy drink when eating. I think it's probably because if I ate something and it was really hot as in temperature, I could for a drink quickly. Has happened in the past once or twice!

I don't usually drink with a meal. When I am thinking about lunch at work where people bring their own, we all just eat the food, I can't think of anyone sitting in the work canteen with a drink alongside their meal.

There's certain things I wouldn't eat without a drink though, eg bread pre-meal, something spicy. I'd usually have a drink pre-meal or after but only occasionally during.

I'll have a coffee after but we are talking 15 mins later in a separate location.

Drinking with meals is partly social conditioning. People are raised to do so in many families, restaurants try to sell drinks with food.

Hope this has helped with your sleep somewhat, good sleep is important, nearly as important as keeping well hydrated.

Even weirder is people who have a hot drink with their dinner. Such a weird thing to have a cup of tea with lunch/dinner. My dad and his ex wife always used to offer me tea, no water or cold drink, just tea.

Yeah a big milky "cuppa" with a plate of spaghetti or something 🤢

I can quite happily go for hours without drinking anything, I mostly just have a cup of tea in the morning and maybe a couple of coffees through the day and that’s it. I don’t drink with meals unless I’m eating out.

I grew up in a household where we didn't have liquid with meals. DH grew up in one where he did. He gets a drink to go with his meal and I don't (unless it's a glass of wine). I prefer to drink after a meal rather than with it, and at any time other than that if I'm thirsty. Neither of these attitudes feels weird to me. I mainly drink tea anyway. Are you American OP? This feels like a rather American attitude, especially being a guest in a household with well water that isn't necessarily what you would prefer to drink. However, having lived in such a place myself, I think I can reassure you that it might not be what you prefer but it isn't going to poison you if you're only there for a few days.