Flushing a Toilet Down Under

Many people have asked me the question whether or not the toilets here really flush counter-clockwise.  To be honest; no they do not.  Most of the toilets here are made by Caroma and are flushed with more of a Yellowstone geothermal bubbling effect.

I was fortunate enough, however, to recently have my bathroom sink clog.  Kara prescribed a healthy dose of hot water to clear the drains.  Pretty soon i had our largest pot (size small), electric kettle, and a mixing bowl full of hot top water going.  After dumping all three into the "washbasin," the bowels of our plumbing glurked, and some bubbles rose to the surface.  I realize I'm making this sound far too epic, but it was literally like Lord of the Rings when they are under ground and all of the ?orcs? wake up and start beating their drums.  it has to do with the way the drains are set up here.  ANYWAYS the water started to flow, and as if straight out of a science center demonstration, the water created a vortex spinning--you guessed it--counter clockwise :)

Ode to my Keepcup

I was wandering down Little Bourke Street a few weeks back after having visited one of the coolest cafes in Melbourne--Brother Baba Budan—and stumbled upon a neat little design shop.  In the window were about 10 or so keepcups.  I poked inside, had a look around to find the usual: interesting wallets, pens, clocks, etc. and all at a ridiculous price.  Keepcup, however, was much more compatible with my price range:  $15.  It’s really just a plastic cup though, the novelty ceramic one at Urban Outfitters was about the same price, and so is a standard Thermos.  It’s cute, looks more like a computer icon than a cup, but in the end I couldn’t justify getting this cup more than any of the other neat-looking-but-overpriced things in the store. 

Fastforward to last week.  I’m sitting at the galleria—a food court in the mezzanine of a nearby office building—and sitting ontop of the trashcan are two keepcups.  I casually walked up to the trashcan…looked around, and even waited for a couple of minutes before declaring it officially someone’s discarded garbage and my new found treasure.  Apparently the galleria was giving away free keepcups with a 10 dollar purchase.  These cups had never even been used and still had the booklets inside.

But I digress.  These cups are awesome.  It wasn’t until I put the lid on it this morning that l realized how awesome this cup is.  I mean, some serious thought went into designing this cup.  I’ve been using a mug at the office until recently, and admittedly have discovered that repeated refills of coffee and tea leave an undesirable brown stain on the mug.  Not so with the keepcup; it’s glossy finished plastic surface is immune to staining and washes very easily.  The cap has a removable swivel cover for your standard Australian sippycup lid, which also happens to have a radial groove cut into it which allows air in when you drink.  I don’t think I can explain how cool this is, but because the air travels up through the cup, between the cover and the lid along a radial grove, it takes some pretty tough shaking to get any hint of spillage.  Additionally, the inside rim of the lid gets tighter in two stages.  You can easily rest the lid evenly on the cup without pushing much, but once you have done this you can push down on any one point of the rubber lid safely because the lid has already been properly seated.  The cup inside has line markings, by the ounce; and with its compact sizes reduces my dependence on caffeine and American-sized portions.

I understand that I haven’t written in a long time, and for all this waiting all you get is me raving about a plastic cup.  It’s a cool cup; come visit me I’ll show you the cup; and while you will ultimately decide it’s kinda neat but not worth an entire blog post.  I promise, however, there are neater things in this city than keepcups.