A Word About the Bidet (life, place, people, Portuguese)
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As a clueless American, I wonder about how bidets in Europe are... facilitated. The one we've had in our home for the last four years is a single entity, attached to the toilet. When one needs it, one doesn't have to, shall we say, relocate to another facility. It's an all-in-one package deal.
I notice in photographs of European and English bathrooms there are two facilities. Doesn't that kind of complicate things? So one does one's business then gets up to wash off in another one?
The Japanese have this down to a science. The Toto Washlet and similar brands are also an all-in-one package. Why are there two in Europe?
I notice in photographs of European and English bathrooms there are two facilities. Doesn't that kind of complicate things? So one does one's business then gets up to wash off in another one?
Outside of Italy and Spain, the vast majority of bidets in Europe are mainly found in hotels. They are far from ubiquitous.
To answer your second question, yes. This is why they are installed right next to each other.
The fully-equipped Japanese toilets can be expensive but adding a seat to an existing toilet is easy enough and much cheaper. It is hard to see the need for them to be separate when one facility can suffice. They are a good thing to have.
I remember we've had them in our boarding school back in the day, the classic ones, the aforementioned "separate facility" in the "wash room" ( which was separate from the bathrooms.)
Life was pretty uneventful, as long as the girls dormitories were covering the whole right wing of that floor, but then something changed, and they decided to use some space there for classrooms.
Big mistake.
From that point on, it seems every boy out there who was kicked out during the lesson for whatever reason, was dashing to that place to unleash the highest water fountain possible.
We were flooded few times.
Then these things disappeared, never to be seen again.
I seem to recall reading that Portuguese building codes have required that they be installed in all new buildings since 1975.
I don't know but some people use them each time after they've used the toilet to freshen up in their own homes much cleaner than simply using toilet paper.
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