Water lounge
(Water dispenser in the flat: Suzhou, China)
It was very recently that I took this picture in the flat. When we first moved in, there were so many exciting things to tell you about that I completely overlooked the fact that we have this machine in the living room. I didn’t realise before I arrived in China that you cannot drink the tap-water. I’ve been told it’s possible to use it for cooking and drinking if it’s boiled, but otherwise the chlorine content is just too high. So there’s a special tap in the kitchen next to the normal tap that produces filtered water. Apparently.
This machine is connected to the special drinking water pipe from the kitchen and is like a constantly boiling kettle married with a water dispenser. It makes a rumbling noise intermittently as the water is heated and as you can see, it has two taps, one warm and one hot. We never use the kettle any more as we lazily fill it from the hot tap. Now back in the UK, I can’t get used to walking over to the kitchen to the kettle each time I need a drink – I’m already used to China’s little conveniences.
By the way, we have to pay for the water. Also, apparently, Bono has topped up a year’s worth of water for us now.
Interesting comment there, so begins the mundane tasks of paying bills and calling people to come round and fix things.