Hot and Cold Surprise in Dublin: Ish Meets Ireland

I’m not sure if this is yet another culture clash entry. Here’s a curiosity that I came across in Ireland, the faucets in the bathroom sink:

Hot and Cold

Notice how the hot and cold knobs are separate but they have their own spouts as well. Now at first glance, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary…

The actual oddity becomes apparent once you start to use it. First while brushing my teeth, It was fine but I realized that I needed to mix the water in my glass to get the right temperature. That was manageable enough. But  then, I had to wash my face.

If you grew up watching the Dove and Camay commercials on TV, you would wash your face like I do. This is done by scooping up the water and splashing it on your face straight from the faucet.

Of course, as you can see, with one side freezing and the other scalding, that wasn’t possible. I only realized the complete gravity of the situation when I tried to scoop up the water to rinse my face while it was currently covered in suds effectively giving myself a burnt hand.

My Irish friend offered an explanation stating that you’re supposed to plug the sink and scoop the mixed water from there. I find this kind of weird since that means lands back in the pool and you’re bringing it back up to your face. Freaking hilarious!

Since they also do not have tabo culture (dipper), that means we can’t mix the water in the tabo either. :/

Well, I survived but when I got home, I heard from a friend that they have this in Sri Lanka but for showerheads. What the hell???