Old Friend

It's a comforting thing, finding yourself in the company of an old friend while traveling. You will be going about your daily business, and suddenly find yourself staring at your old friend. Greetings arise, and you are pleasantly surprised to find yourself more at ease. Even if you're in a foreign country with a foreign language and a foreign currency and a completely foreign way of thinking, there's just something about seeing that familiarity that makes your day brighter and your trip happier.

"So there really are fortuitous events such as these," you say to yourself. "What are the odds that I would run into my old friend here, in such a place as this?"

You rarely seem to run into them when you expect to. It's always in the darkest, grungiest places where you'd least expect them to show up (and vice versa), or else it's the most elegant places, where you never thought the high and mighty would deign to allow them (or even allow yourself).

In the past year, I have traveled my fair share. I was New York in the winter, Ireland in the summer, New Zealand at the end of summer, and now Prague in the fall. There were no old friends for me in New York, though it was in Ireland where I made the friend I have been describing.

And you cannot understand the excitement I felt when I came across this old friend, big flush little flush toilets, in both New Zealand and Prague.

It's quite possible that these toilets were the highlight of my trip to Ireland. Who would have thought that using the toilet could pose so many choices (and potential problems) for said bathroom goer. No longer is it, "How many squares of toilet paper should I use?" Instead, it is, "Is this worthy of a big flush, or can I get by with a little flush?"

One of the main reasons I love the big flush little flush function is because of its potential to save the planet. We are living in a world of global warming and limited resources, and we must do everything possible to save as much fresh water as possible so that when all the glaciers melt and we are left floating on rafts thatched together (think Huck Finn), there are somehow patches in that giant ocean where salt is unable to go. Sounds crazy, but I'm pretty sure scientific researchers funded by Al Gore have said something of the sort will happen and that's how we get our fresh water.

Big flush little flush, though, is a beautiful thing. It allows us to limit the amount of water that we use--when we don't need much water we choose little flush, when we need a bit more we go for the BIG flush.

Regardless of the necessity, I always use the big flush. It's the potential for their saving the world that makes me love them so much--knowing that someone, somewhere, someday will use them correctly and make a difference in the world. I, however, am not worried about making a difference in the world by regulating the size of my flushes. I probably would be if there weren't something so satisfying about hitting the big flush, slapping it like I'm on the Price is Right, and then watching it push the little flush button in along with it as toilet water rains down upon the discharge and flushes it from sight.

I'm sure many of you are now questioning my sanity--I have managed to write a good 574 words (I counted) on the topic of a style of toilet flush, calling it my "old friend" and saying it makes me "feel more at ease." But if any of you doubt that a toilet can be considered a friend, much less an old friend, I would like to say this to you:

The "squatting hole with water hose" I saw in Singapore is most definitely not my friend. It does not make me feel at ease or comfortable in a foreign place; it makes me feel panicked, anxious, and incredibly curious.

In a foreign country with a foreign language and a foreign currency and a completely foreign way of thinking, I'll take all the comfort I can get, wherever and whenever it comes.

Trevor's New Zealand-Style Big Flush Little Flush.

Kutna Hora Public Restroom-Style Big Flush Little Flush

Note: The NZ big flush is on the right-hand side, opposite from the one from the CR. In NZ people also drive on the right side, while people in the CR drive on the left side. Coincidence? I think not.