A Fairly Arbitrary Rant, Just To Keep In Shape
Okay, different cultures are different.
I know this. I don't really keep a count of the countries i've spent time in, and it wouldn't set any records, but it's probably safely over a dozen by now. So i know that people in various places sometimes do things in unfamiliar ways. And for unfamiliar reasons. (Insert DTS mantra here: It's not weird; it's just different. Repeat each time you eat a new kind of insect.) Here in Scotland, for instance: lack of central heating...oil-fired kitchen stoves...haggis....Different. Fine. But some things are so absolutely and egregiously wrong that you just have to draw the line.
Like separate faucets. This phenomenon might be understandable if today were 1885 and hot tapwater a novelty only slightly newer than the water closet. But it's 2005. This country has better mobile phones than America. Their credit cards have little microchips in them. Is it really that difficult to get hot and cold water from a single faucet? Is one really expected to wedge a dirty rubber plug into a foul-smelling drain, mix water from two separate taps together, and wash one's face from a basin encrusted with eight days' worth of other people's toothpaste? No wonder all the colonies are independent.
Next week: Tiny faucets too close to the sink to fit your hands under. Don't even try to justify those.
I know this. I don't really keep a count of the countries i've spent time in, and it wouldn't set any records, but it's probably safely over a dozen by now. So i know that people in various places sometimes do things in unfamiliar ways. And for unfamiliar reasons. (Insert DTS mantra here: It's not weird; it's just different. Repeat each time you eat a new kind of insect.) Here in Scotland, for instance: lack of central heating...oil-fired kitchen stoves...haggis....Different. Fine. But some things are so absolutely and egregiously wrong that you just have to draw the line.
Like separate faucets. This phenomenon might be understandable if today were 1885 and hot tapwater a novelty only slightly newer than the water closet. But it's 2005. This country has better mobile phones than America. Their credit cards have little microchips in them. Is it really that difficult to get hot and cold water from a single faucet? Is one really expected to wedge a dirty rubber plug into a foul-smelling drain, mix water from two separate taps together, and wash one's face from a basin encrusted with eight days' worth of other people's toothpaste? No wonder all the colonies are independent.
Next week: Tiny faucets too close to the sink to fit your hands under. Don't even try to justify those.
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