My toilet is rich

Along my travels in some continents only separated from each other by a few but dangerous tectonic plates, an idea came to me. An idea some may find vaguely interesting and perhaps a little bit amusing if they appear to be sitting next to me in a bar at 1h59 am.

Alright. This has to do with toilets all over the world and how they don't look the same as the people sitting (or standing) have different and private ways to deal with the stuff. This project was never born. Not only this makes little sense but it involves taking pictures of the facilities. Just thinking about it makes me feel slightly sick.

Anyway, I was thinking about it in a pub's ladies when I saw the door handle that is used in england to flush the toilets. Some countries have to press a button, others have to pull a chain or a mushroomy shaped thing. It's just a few examples. I could go on forever as an experienced traveler and a soon to be recognised ethnographer.

In England, when you are done you "open the door" twice. One time to flush and a second time to get out the loo. I used to find it almost metaphoric in a "open the door and flush away your worries" way.
But. But most of the time this refreshing metaphor turns into a massive struggle with the (1st) door handle.

The flushing device. If you use it as if you were really opening a door, as the shape of the metal piece suggests, it doesn't work. You are completely wrong (or this is completely wrong, I don't know). Because, it works more like a water pump than a normal flush.

And that is why, when I go to the toilets in a pub, I feel like I am in a remote village trying to extract some water from the ground in a "fight for life" way. And I always find myself washing my hands singing this song of Georges Brassens in my head "Ne cherche plus longtemps de fontaine, toi qui a besoin d'eau. Ne cherche plus aux larmes d'Hélène, va-t-en remplir. Ton seau".

Ah.