A couple brief things I keep forgetting about whilst recounting adventures:
I know there is much anticipation for my verdict re: ‘coreolis effect’ on toilets, but I don’t have much empirical evidence to report. All the toilets I’ve encountered are what I’ve dubbed “Chicago-style,” (deep dish) and don’t actually swirl much at all. A jet of water drops straight into the very deep bowl, and it all whooshes away without any perceivable rotation at all. I did encounter one in at a sushi restaurant last night that appeared to swirl ever-so-slightly clock-wise after the jet settled out, but I confess to forgetting to observe the rotation in the northern hemisphere; i’ve no idea whether this confirms what folklore purports or debunks it. What IS interesting, though, is the push-butto flush mechanism on all the toilets: each toilet has two flush buttons; one large and one small. This led me to believe that one is for ‘number one’ and the larger for ‘number two,” but having rpeatedly alternated betwixt the two on several different toilets (bloody Americans, don’t they know there’s a drought on?) I’ve not been able to tell the difference.
Our hotel has an ingenious power-saving device that I think needs to become standard at alll hotels: Upon entering your room, you side your special key fob into a receptacle near the door which then activates the lights and thermostat. As soon as one removes the key fob, everything shuts off. Since you need your key to get back in, this ensures that Americans can’t waste power unless they are IN the room.
Lastly, in lieu of mints on our pillows, our hotel leaves fortune cookies. Players of the ‘between the sheets/in bed’ fortne cookie game may be particularly amused by this.
