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7 comments:
Is this also a metaphor for the schizophrenic British character, I wonder?
Ha ha. Don't let my husband see this. We have a small powder room and we needed a teeny sink for it. For some reason I insisted on putting in an English style sink with two taps. (It looks great.) These bloody Americans scald their hands every time they use it. What;s wrong with putting the plug in and filling the sink with lovely WARM water?
Well, here in Florida, I converted the old two separate taps in the bathroom to combined taps. I am firmly on the combined taps side of the fence.
I don't think I saw combinded taps in abundance until I visited Germany as a young adult, where they seemed to get them long before the UK!
Many British would rather go through some eccentric and lengthy hand-washing ritual, rather than deal with new fangled technology. As a trait, it is both irritating and charming at the same time! ;-)
@ExpatMum:
I can think of one reason why someone (including me) would have trouble putting the plug in and filling the sink with "lovely WARM water": people probably spit in that sink, especially if it's the only one in the house aside from the kitchen sink. My apartment only has one bathroom, which is shared by 4 other people and sometimes guests, and I would never imagine filling up my sink and using that water to wash my hands (or worse, my face). Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if people disinfected the sink every time they brushed their teeth, but really, who has time for that?
This made me laugh, especially as I've just got back from a week in England, where lots of the public loos had "Caution: Very hot water" signs by the taps! I have a range of taps in my home and no one burns their hands, even when using the British style ones, but maybe that's because I don't heat my water to "take the skin off your hands" temperature! Much too frugal for that!
Brenda
If the 'hot' water has not been used for a long time, chances are the tank is so far away that you will have completed the hand washing task before any warm water arrives. Thus, the 2 taps should be labelled cold and cold.
I'm an Englishman (in England) and I refuse to have anything but the 'combined taps' in my house. Anything else is just silly! :-)
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