Earlier this week, I called my folks. When I told my dad that our toilet had broken, he actually thought that I had sat on it, it had pulled off the wall, and then shattered into a million pieces on the floor. I told Mrs. TBF about it at dinner, and we both laughed. But then, we kind of began wondering how often this actually happens here. You see, toilets do not rest on the floor here like they usually do in N. America - they're bolted into the wall and just hover above the floor. In fact, I don't remember EVER seeing a toilet resting on the floor in Europe. Is there some kind of weight limit I should be aware of? Gonna have to start paying more attention to this...
Seeing how the vision of me lying on the bathroom floor on top of a pile of reading material, fecal matter, and the shattered remains of a toilet hadn't ruined our appetites, I guided the dinner conversation to a related yet equally inappropriate topic.
TBF: Do you know one of the things I'm going to miss the most about Switzerland someday when we move?
Mrs. TBF: What?
TBF: Swiss toilet paper!
Mrs. TBF: Oh yeah, it IS good! American toilet paper SUCKS!
And you know what? Mrs. TBF is right! American toilet paper DOES suck! The Swiss TP is thick, absorbent, a pleasure to use, and generally far superior to its American counterpart. Just don't buy the recycled TP. I did that once... NEVER AGAIN!
I read in an article not too long ago about how much forestland could be saved if people would just switch to using toilet paper made with recycled paper. I figured I'd do my part, and I went next door to the grocery store and bought an "experimental" eight-pack. BIG MISTAKE! That stuff is awful. Just...don't...buy...it!
And finally...
Why is water pressure so much better here than in America. Toilets flush better, the water pressure in the shower is much better... I definitely prefer life in America to life in Switzerland, but I just wish the entire Swiss bathroom experience could be replicated in America.
Hmmm...
Maybe it can.
like: the Swiss bathroom experience and Swiss toilet paper
no like: Today? nothing!
4 comments:
i have an irrational fear that im going to sit on one of those toilets and it will break off the wall. i know this is unlikely given that im not the largest person in switzerland (or austria, my mother in law has the same kind) but still it freaks me out.
A friend of mine once broke one of the non-european, non-hovering toilets. I assume it was faulty before she sat on it (she's not a large person by any stretch of the imagination). I think it happened as she was in the process of standing up again, but the toilet broke at floor level and fell over, emptying its contents all over the floor. And this was at work, at a job she had only recently started. And she told me this story voluntarily and gleefully! I gather she avoided getting covered in anything unpleasant (but I think she threw out her shoes).
Ok, here's an absolute no-no on European 'hover toilets': no men over 6'4" especially ones with shaved heads! lol
Your dinner discussion sure brought laughs. I actually like European toilets because it is so much easier to clean the bathroom floor. Also, don't you love the fact that you can hose the whole bathroom down and scrub it all with soap and water (am I weird wanting to do that once in a while?). And oh, what about my favorite - hot waters just flows right off the tap. No endless waiting and wasting for the cold water to flow out of the pipes like in America.
our toilet sits on the floor like an american one. It still broke. (waiting three weeks for it to be changed and doing weekly spackle maintenance, i'll spare you the details). I may take a picture before it goes off to the toilet graveyard. My theory is that it broke because it has been here since the building was built in the forties or fifties. The French part of Switzerland= always behind on technology. Even with toilets.
Post a Comment