I just got back from GB where I spent a fortnight touring with my motorbike.

You'd think that British plumbers don't go abroad for their holidays and have never seen the bathroom fittings on the continent.
I had forgotten all about British bathrooms!

After spending most of my life on the continent, I am used to turning on a tap and being presented with hot, warm or cold water, as I wish.
The hot water system is part of the central heating system (always in the cellar) and - probably due to the fact, that heat rises - hot water is almost instantaneously available.

The system in GB is different - the boiler for hot water always seems to be on the top floor, or in the attic. This allows water to trickle through the pipes unaided, instead of having to use a pump.
The hot and the cold taps are generally a minimum of 30 cm apart and when you open the tap with the red marking, you have to run off 20 litres of cold water before you can be sure, that it really is the hot tap.
This alone is a waste of water but then, if you wish to use warm water to wash your hands, you have to run a further litre into the sink - twice the amount I need to wash my hands under running water.

On those rare occasions when you find a tap where hot and cold water flow from a single nozzle, you get the shock of your life: when you hold your hand under the flow of water, the left side of your hand freezes, while the right hand side is scalded!

Then there are the showers.
Step into the shower-cabin, open the tap and have a shower?
You would have thought so.
But no, first you have to search for the switch to turn on the boiler - a so-called continuous-flow-heater. The switch is usually attached to a cord, dangling from a corner of the ceiling.
You will most likely have to experiment for ten minutes, until you find out which knob on the heater does what and which combination of settings sets the heat closest to your preferences. You may now carefully position yourself under the trickle of water from the almost-adjustable-mini-shower-head.

And then, in one case in Wales, someone bangs the door to attract your attention.
"We forgot to tell you - you can't use the shower in your room - the drain leaks and most of the water ends up in the dining room!"
And all that for just £30-a-night bed and breakfast.