Many of these small frustrations occur while we are en route somewhere or other and in places where I need to be myself – places like public washrooms. There seem to be so many different ways to make water come out of a faucet – push the button on top of the tap, turn the lever, raise the lever, and my best, the automatic swoosh when motion is detected. Then comes the puzzle of finding the soap. Is it beside the faucet or on the wall? Is it also automatic or will I need to find a button or lever? Hands washed and what next? Paper towels are located where? Perhaps there is an air dryer. I like this method better because if someone else is using it, I can find it by the sound. I won’t even go into the various flush mechanisms for the toilet. Is there a button or lever on the tank, or perhaps a knob or lever on the wall behind the tank? Perhaps there will be the surprise of an automatic flush. Once I even came across the old fashioned chain hanging from an overhead tank. I yearn for standardization.
Right now Lyle and I are in Australia for another family visit. We are fortunate to stay in an accommodation that is fairly familiar to me. Nevertheless, I still need to go through the relearning of how to use things like the TV remote, the microwave buttons and the knobs on the stove and the washing machine. All in all though, I count myself fortunate to be able to travel and look at these frustrations as pretty small when taken in the grand scheme of things.
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