BLACK grit, slime, or other visible alien matter. Come on, Bryan - you must have a foreign body stuck in your pipeline! (Don't drink the water, July 18).

I have never seen such additives in the water which gushes from our taps; I don't boil/strain/filter it before I drink it - pints of it - and I have a very healthy alimentary tract.

As for the fizzy drinks you recall being kept for special occasions only, it's a great pity that more parents don't do that today, for if more children drank more water and less sugary 'fruit juice', perhaps we wouldn't have one of the highest rates of tooth decay in Europe.

And just for the record, one of our dogs turns up her nose at the nice clean York water in her bowl and insists on drinking copiously from the large china dish our resident garden blackbird bathes in, but not until after he has spent several minutes splashing about in it and depositing lots of black grit, slime and other visible alien matter for her to enjoy.

There's no accounting for taste.

Mrs J E Paley,

Alwyne Drive, York.