Push Me Pull Me

The subject of flushing toilets has popped up twice on blogs I read this week. Rainey over at Here's The Thing has been explaining the wonders of water swirling down the bowl clock-wise to their Australian exchange student. Or is it counter-clock-wise, I can never remember and am too lazy to go flushing toilets to find out.

And over at AmoRoma, Larry has proven once again that he is an astute observer of life in Roma with an overview of toilet flushing systems he's discovered here. And now that he mentions it, he's right, I've never seen so many types of buttons, handles, cords, pedals et al to activate the simple flow of water into a toilet bowl.

Mind you there is one type he forgot and I can't blame him because I'm sure we're the only people in the world who have it: the vacuum pump button!

The idea is you push the button:
It sends a rush of air down the tube which forces the trap to lift and the water flows.Technically a very simple premise but like any pump it sometimes, to the confusion of guests I might add, requires priming.

17 gennaio - San Antonio abate
Hmmm, I realize I have just posted an item about flushing toilets - this is getting a little strange but what was even more disturbing is I was going to add the label Ballcock, a perfectly fine plumbing term, then I realized what sort of hits I would probably get.