Know your -ankas

Water is big business - in my childhood water came from a tap and bottled water was drunk exclusively by strange people with personality issues. Today, London Underground advises passengers to carry bottles of water with them at all times when travelling in summer. Bottled water is everywhere, and yet there is water and water. Spring water and mineral, there are big differences in what's on offer.

Here in Poland, most mineral water on the market has a name ending in -anka.

Let me explain. The ending is the feminine form of the inhabitant of a given place; warszawianka = a female citizen of Warsaw; krakowianka = a woman of Kraków; kielczanka = a woman of Kielce etc. The name for the male inhabitant usually ends in -iak or -in (warszawiak, kieczanin).

Now, for some reason, many Polish mineral waters use the feminine-inhabitant form of the place from which the water is drawn. Example: Nałęczowianka (from Nałęczów), Cisowianka (from Cisa), Muszynianka (from Muszyna), Wysowianka (from Wysowa), Małopolanka (from Krynica Zdrój, Małopolska), Buskowianka (from Busko Zdrój), Piwniczanka (from Piwniczna Zdrój), Staropolanka (from Polanica Zdrój). By the way, 'Zdrój' means pretty much the same as 'Spa' or the German 'Bad' (Royal Leamington Spa, Wiesbaden, Marienbad). And note too that the word 'Spa' is not capitalised SPA as many Poles incorrectly style it.

Anyway, back to the water. Left: several presentations from two sources. Eddie (on holiday from Paris) says that water is better in glass bottles - only Cisowianka is up to speed with western packaging trends it seems.

It is important to differentiate genuine mineral water from spring water, which is little different to clean, potable tap water. Warsaw's is fine to drink. But if it's minerals that you're after - you'll need something with a higher concentration than what you'll find in tap water (or bottled spring water - woda źródlana).

I woke up in the night once again with cramp in my right calf - a regular occurrence in summer - and remembered that yesterday evening I drank some Cisowianka rather than Muszynianka. The difference in magnesium, sodium potassium is significant. Muszynianka has 137mg/l of the former, 59mg/l of sodium and 6.9mg/l potassium, while Cisowianka has just 22mg/l of magnesium, 11mg/l of sodium and 2.5mg/l of potassium. Big difference.

Muszynianka is very popular - it has a distinctive taste due to its high mineral content. In my office, despite the presence of decent Warsaw tap water and spring water from the water-cooler, Muszynianka is what my colleagues go out to buy. It is produced by a workers' cooperative (which makes it popular with the hipster community) and it is readily available across Poland. And for me, it helps stave off those dreaded nocturnal incidents of 'charley horse'.

A final point about nocturnal leg cramp - it's worst when its onset coincides with deep or REM sleep. You are in a dream, the pain enters your consciousness via your dream, a dream of pain. You wake up from the deepest sleep literally shouting in agony. If the cramp comes at other times in the sleep cycle, the working part of your consciousness will react instantly, stretching the leg, moving the foot, and mitigating the pain before it gets unbearable.

[UPDATE, August 2021 - taking 500mg magnesium tablet before going to bed every night has prevented me from having bad attacks. They still come on, but are rarer and milder.]

This time last year:
Going back to my roots - Mogielnica

This time two years ago:
My father's walk around Jeziorki

This time four years ago:
What's the Polish for 'sustainability'?

This time six years ago:
Last chance to see Amber Gold's billboards in Warsaw

This time seven years ago:
The Twilight Rambler