Sink or Swim

Once the business of the loo is out of my life, I have the task of deciding whether I am in the mood for a good scalding or a deep freeze.

Sinks here have two faucets. I can burn the germs from my fingers, freeze them, or, if I'm fast enough, do the ole burn-freeze-burn-freeze and hope to come away with fingers intact. Here in New Zealand, there is no in between.

This, of course, assumes that I can get my hands under the faucet. I've noticed a curiosity about sinks here. The faucets are flush with the back. If I hold my hand sideways I am just able to squeeze it under the water and rinse the palm. Flatten it against the sink and I can just manage a spray to the back. In this manner hands of course may be rinsed one at a time. Perhaps it reduces chapping.

In one public restroom I got a second wash for the price of one. While I performed my now perfected maneuver of burn-freeze-flatten-flip, I also got a shoe wash. A quick investigation revealed that there was no drain pipe attached to the sink. A mistake or --------?

Then of course there are the quarter sinks. The sinks that protrude only six inches from the wall. Perhaps they are for decortion only. What's the point?

The showers at campgrounds are another bathroom item worthy of mention. They all seem to utilize the trough system of water removal. What this means is should you drop your soap, it's bye-bye soap! Though I have yet to experience the bar-slip, I have seen many float on by accompanied by groans from the stalls upstream.

Despite these quirks, bathrooms in New Zealand are given high ratings. Public toilets are generally clean and tidy and there are always plenty of them around. I'll be keeping you posted on others ablution blocks as we travel around the world.