There are many differences between cultures of England and America. No one was more surprised about this then I was.  Sometimes the differences are better; sometimes they have proven to be a great source of frustration; and other times it has been a source of misunderstanding between  Russ and I.
Hot water -- now there's a normal everyday thing we use in our daily living...but did you know? People in England would not dare to use hot water as those in America do. How many times have we Americans included hot water or hot water alone to do a quick cup of tea or coffee? Well, you would not think about doing that in England. Why, you ask? Well, the hot water tank can be exposed to the outside in some houses leaving the chance of dead birds and rats, etc, possibly sitting in the water that comes into your house...in America this would not be possible and where the rules are you NEVER drink out of the hot tap (spigot), you also have to be leery of even the cold water. Thus, there is another difference most Americans would never think of.

Can you guess how many times I go to brush my teeth in warm water? I dare not! Can I tell you how many times I reach the hot water before the cold (that brings us to another difference here but we will talk about that in a later article) ...well, I dare NOT use the hot water. The pipes in the house I live in is relatively safe however good habits here could save one's life… serving up a good healthy (or unhealthy) dose of lead is not my idea of a nice cold glass of water. Also, using the hot water uses electric but then that brings us to the next article.  

Imagine the difference between electric here and America. The ironic part about all of this is the water (cold, of course) is much better tasting throughout the entire country then you could find once in a while in America. Those of us Americans know how horrible the chlorine treated water can be. Although it varies from place to place, you can be sure the water out of the tap (spigot) will not be fit to drink whereas here in England, it is fit to drink if you run the water to make sure it has cleared any negative pipes. 

Russ has made sure that the pipes in our home here are safe but the rules for hot water remain the same so that bad habits will not be developed. Since wearing braces on my teeth, I developed the habit of washing my teeth using hot water but as you may have guessed, I have altered that habit.

You can imagine what goes through my mind when taking a bath as opposed to a shower (which I do not often do)… visions of dead birds, rats, etc., run through my mind and take away from a nice calm soothing bath. Russ has assured me though that the hot water in this house comes from an enclosed tank which makes this practice a bit better to take. So, the next time you go to drink from or use the hot water tap, think about what things could be like and it should give you one more reason to appreciate America for its safety issues.  

Having said that, those of you in England should also appreciate how good the water tastes here. Those of us in America very rarely (unless we are fortunate enough to have well water which is rare) are able to drink water directly from the tap. 

There seems to be good and bad no matter where one lives.

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Do not drink the water!