AIBU to wonder why bidets are common in Italy but not England?

[Tonyritundo]

Why are bidets mandatory in Italy but barely any English people have them?

I bought a portable bidet bottle (as I struggle with mobility) and it’s fab!

I’m sure it saves more water than it costs to chop down trees and process, transport and sell toilet roll.

Why? I'm not doubting that this is the case, just trying to appreciate why it would be against any regulations.

This is from AI

Bidet hoses (douche sprays) are generally considered illegal to install in the UK when connected directly to mains water because they pose a severe backflow contamination risk. Classified as Fluid Category 5, these hoses can allow toilet water to be siphoned into the public water supply, violating the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999

https://www.arrowvalves.co.uk/blog/fitting-a-douche-hose-heres-why-it-might-be-illegal?srsltid=AfmBOoqyjte3cdz9p6QuqfYI4DeaMeE7R511CCpP9t7Cp5ESDBpx7ztm

Just get one of those bum washing jugs that many muslims use - loads of shops sell them.

They don’t but you need a certain toilet, I wanted a bum gun but couldn’t get one fitted unfortunately

We always had a bidet growing up (Greece), it was NEVER used as a bidet as apart from the bath we also had a walk in shower we could easily hop in for quick washes when we needed to. So it was agreed that the bidet was only to be used for soaking whites or for putting your foot on it to paint your toe nails etc 😂

Here in the UK my house currently only has a shower over bath and as I like washing myself after toilet, I constantly find myself wishing I had a bidet 😭

I was pleased to find a bidet recently at Split airport.

Historically I believe it's connected to different cultural and religious beliefs about cleanliness.

Just about to say this. In Thailand recently and googled why we don’t have the gun things
really strict regulations around the plumbing required to make them legal

It’s something to do with water regulations, I read about it a while ago whilst we were considering having one

Spain and Portugal are in the Northern Hemisphere, as is France where the name originates and where I first came across them as a child.

I just use my towel, that I use also to dry my arse after a shower!
The put it in my bedroom.
Honestly, I find the idea of people not washing themselves after going to the toilet a bit gross.

It is true. Got to be a completely separate water source

Whatever you want. I use a bidet bottle and rinse with water after a wee, soap and water after a poo (helps prevent UTIs)

I’m not sure I’d be happy about lowering my arse into a public bidet. I won’t even sit on a public toilet. Imagine the amount of ‘particles’ in there!

They were briefly a thing but were roundly mocked in the 80s and 90s and fell out of fashion. I remember using them to wash my feet as a child!

We have one of these!! Added bonus of being useful for cleaning the toilet

Me too! After the first use I was sold. Bought two more so I keep one in the bathroom, one in the downstairs loo and one at work! Much easier on the knees than hovering over a bidet. Takes up less space and less to clean, too. Squirt bottles are the future!

They have never been common here. I’ve never seen one in anyone’s bathroom or hotel here.

A small squeezy bottle (similar to small washing up liquid) would do the trick wouldn't it? Fill it with nice warm water from the sink, do the biz, point and shoot directly at the relevant part, and dry with toilet paper. Save a fortune in plumbing and equipment. If you are so inclined. 😊

So what do essential bidet users do when they go out somewhere that has the ordinary facilities, sans bidet (even in Italian restaurants)? Shock horror, that is outrageous, install one immediately!

I don’t think it’s odd at all. Do you think people in Italy are sitting around thinking it’s odd they have bidets and we don’t and debating how they can get rid of them?

toileting is different all round the world, nothing odd about it. Until globalisation we saw these things as part of the rich tapestry of cultural difference

I've owned one house that had one. Never used it and took it out to double the shower tray. Bliss.

A colleague used to use theirs to sit the Christmas turkey in to defrost. Said it was just the right size and shape and drained the water away easily.

Knowing that MNers often seek to be "disgusted", I'll add:
house was a new build so bidet had never been used;
bidet was in the ensuite bathroom and colleague was single so it never got used after they'd moved in;
no, there was never an occasion when I ate any of their turkey (but I wouldn't have minded).

I don't think I've ever had a bathroom that would fit a bidet.

I'd love one of those whizzy Japanese bidet / drying toilets though.

Interesting, I've never kept my towel in a bedroom at home. Sometimes it's a thing when you are a guest in someone's house or in a holiday cottage with limited hooks