Bathroom Technology

Bathroom technology very interesting to me. When I was a little girl living in the mountains of Tennessee, I discovered the toilet that needed no flushing (the outhouse). Just think! Prior to moving to the mountains, I always had to flush.

The next big leap in bathroom technology, I suppose, were those hand driers in public restrooms. You push a button and warm air comes out of a tube on the machine and dries your hands. Actually, you have to hold your hands under the stream of air for at least five minutes to get them dry enough to finish the job by drying your hands on your clothes. Someone thinks these little machines work so well that paper towels are no longer available in some restrooms.

Now we don’t even have to turn on the water; just pass your hands under the faucet and,Voila! Water comes gushing out. Handleless faucets! What a marvel!

Today I discovered the latest thing in public restroom technology. I found a restroom that actually offered both the hot-air drier and paper towels. I opted for the paper towels. I tried to pull the towel out of the dispenser, but it appeared to be stuck. I then noticed a red light on the front of the dispenser. Could this be the answer? An electric eye? A motion detector? I passed my hand in front of the little red light, and, lo and behold, the machine spat out a paper towel. Wow! How neat is that?

Of course, this towel dispenser may not be new. Normally, I don’t “do” public restrooms. I once drove 890 miles in 16 hours without using the roadside facilities, so this improvement may have been around for a while. I must admit,I was quite taken with this invention. When I told Mr. Fixit about this innovation, he offered a rather pithy description of the next innovation in restroom technology. Being the refined, elderly lady that I am, I won’t repeat it.