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?

Japanese toilets are a revelation. I was taken by some associates to a posh Shanghai restaurant and going to the loo was such a treat I did it several times. My hosts must have thought I had a stomach upset 😁

We just use the kitchen sink if needed in our house. No drama and no mess.

That's a good idea as a lot of people have got those shower hose kitchen taps now.

There's usually a little sink in the cubicle too, as the bum gun will be connected to that (sometimes there isn't a sink but usually there is), so you can wash your hands before and after using it.

I think it’s because traditionally an English bathroom will have a full bath in it whereas it’s more usual in a hot country to have a shower with bidet. I have very occasionally seen a bidet next to the toilet in a public restroom, and I think that was in Italy . But equally I’ve been in Italy where the public restrooms were squatties with shit on the foot stands.

I agree with PP about there being a time when they were installed in British bathrooms and I think this was in upmarket new builds in the 80s, along with the coloured suite and the corner bath with whirlpool. I guess after that they realised that the huge bathroom was taking up the space of a whole other bedroom and they moved to en-suites with small shower room .

me too! @TheZenOne22

That's a good idea as a lot of people have got those shower hose kitchen taps now.

Well, this thread has explained to me why the staff in our Rome hotel stopped giving us little towels after day 2 🙃

(It had actually been really handy - used one of the face towels as a hand towel because for some reason they never give you one for that, then used the little towel on my face - but they obviously noticed that the rail above the bidet was consistently empty)

On showers - when we got our new shower it had a loop which the hose went through which meant that it was very awkward to bring the head down far enough. For several years I would (a) mutter to myself about this during every shower and (b) conscientiously thread the hose back through the loop every time I'd unscrewed the head to degunk it. The day it occurred to me that I could simply not put the hose through the loop was the day I realised I was finally a grown-up.

The 70s new build I grew up in had a bidet in the bathroom... but the toilet was not in the bathroom
We used it for sandy feet, it was brilliant for that.

I live in the southern hemisphere and don't know anyone with a bidet.

When I used to lurk here, I'll always remember one poster saying that she never felt right unless she'd washed her 'Humber Bridge'.
This has stayed with me. 😁 and probably always will.

I feel the same!