From: tes0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (THOMAS EDWIN SCHMIDLIN)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.german
Subject: Re: Bathroom standards (was Re: shopping hours)
Date: 23 Aug 92 03:25:16 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <SPACE.92Aug22182145@ncc1701.stgt.sub.org>, space@ncc1701.stgt.sub.or
g (Lars Soltau) writes:
>>>>>> On 21 Aug 92 13:42:04 GMT, alti@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Thorsten Altenkirch) said:
>
>> I don't know about banks in the states but compared to German Banks
>> the British banks are real crap:
>[...]
>> they are lots of different cards which only
>> work on certain autotellers (nothing like EC cards in G.)
>
>Huh? I went to London in March, and I never had any problem to find an
>autoteller accepting EC cards. Maybe that's restricted to the capital, though.
>
>> P.S. Nothing against Britain - it is always fun to live in a society
>> before the invention of taps which mix hot & cold water...
>
>That I can relate to. The standard of plumbing/shower/bathrooms in
>Germany/Switzerland/Austria is unreached in any country I've been to save
>maybe the Scandinavian countries.
>
>Generally, I've found that G/S/A houses have much better interior standards
>than for example British, French or American. I've been in upper class houses
>in the States and I've been quite astonished with such little details like
>light switches that looked like German ones from the 60s, door locks that made
>me (and any crook) laugh (no separate bar, the lock just prevents you from
>turning the knob. Germans never understand how crooks in American movies are
>able to open doors with plastic cards.) and showers that made me weep.
>
>There are houses in Britain that have a water tank in the attic because the
>pressure of the water coming from the service station is too low. And, of
>course, the ever present twin taps, one for hot and one for cold. You have the
>choice between boiling hot and freezing cold.
>
>Surely other countries must be able to build satisfactory bathrooms. So,
>what's the deal? Don't Britons or Americans care? Don't they know better?
>--
>Lars Soltau    bang: <insert ridiculously long path>       BIX: -- no bucks --
>               smart: space@ncc1701.stgt.sub.org
>
>     Germany, Stuttgart-
>

Well, speaking as an American, but not claiming to represent the whole, I'd
have to say we just don't care.  I mean, the faucet works, I get hot or cold
water.  The shower shoots water and, where I live at least, the water pressure
is excellent.  What more could you ask for?  Toilets flush, and if you checked
every door in the house, you could probably find one unlocked on any given
night.  Of course this is not typical, and for those who are truly concerned
about security you can get quality locks and high-tech security systems.  You
could by a watchdog, or you could hire your own personal police force to
patrol your house and watch out for burglars.  It all comes down to money, and
the more you have, the more you have to spend to keep it safe.  Of course, the
best security in the world is to simply have nothing worth stealing.  I make
no secret about that fact, and it seems to work pretty well for me, since no
one has stolen the nothing that I have.  But seriously, is it really that
important to you what a light switch looks like?  I mean, if it works, what's
the big deal?
-- 


Tom Schmidlin       DEEP THOUGHTS: By Jack Handy - Whenever I see something
TES0@LEHIGH.EDU         screech across a room and latch onto a guy's neck,
215-758-0865            and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have
                        to laugh because, What is that thing?