Or the one where NFAH has to eat a little crow. But only kind of.
I have complained about two tap sinks before. I still really dislike them. But this week, they have strangely become a slight bit of a saving grace for me. I’ll start at the beginning. I was doing one of my wild weekend cooking things, making ravioli (inspired by the dumplings a few weeks ago). I went to rinse out a bowl after using it and when I tried to turn the water off, I was faced with this:
In case it’s not that obvious, the hot tap would not turn off. I could spin the faucet around and around and still had a steady stream of hot water. I threw on some shoes and went running down to find maintenance, but this was Saturday night. The best they were able to offer me was an Allen key to turn it off at the valve in the cupboard under the sink.
So here’s the crow part: if this was a single tap sink, I would effectively have no easy access to running water in my kitchen without running it solidly all the time. But at the moment I can at least wash dishes by boiling water in the kettle to put into a bowl in the sink, and running the cold intermittently to rinse. However, here’s the only-a-little-bit-of-crow part: It is now Tuesday evening and they still have not come to fix the hot tap, as they were supposed to do on Monday. Apparently it’s just not that urgent, or (perhaps more likely) the problem didn’t get logged into the maintenance request book and I’ve been forgotten. So I’m going to have to follow up with this in the morning. 72 hours so far of me absent-mindedly twirling the hot tap with no result. I actually have not once turned the hot tap on with the Allen key, it just feels wrong somehow (probably because of how remarkably un-ergonomic it is…)
So I have photos from the ravioli process but they’ll have to wait for another day as I’ve been distracted by the process of applying for my Chinese visa for my big trip in less than a month. I was told I should get my passport back on Monday, and I will be counting the hours until then. Since I have to go to the US before I go to China. So I’ll actually really need the passport. And for the record: express visa service for Brits was £139 but because I’m American it’s £185. Now I know why so many of my long time expat friends who travel a lot go for British citizenship…
Not From Around Here 
Two taps drove my American husband crazy when we were in the UK. He absolutely hated them. Good to know there’s a positive! Hope you get it fixed soon.
I’d forgotten the two taps thing in the UK, so long have I been away now. It is odd, isn’t it?
I’ve not had “two taps” in a British house for years. I didn’t think people still fitted them … though you do point out a plus point. Bummer about the passport – that is a major expense. It’s probably worth getting UK citizenship so you can travel and work freely throughout Europe as well!
We had some renovations work done at my job and they installed a roomful of brand new two tap sinks. I was livid.
Oh my, that visa service is expensive! I’ve been reading a lot of complaints about how expensive things like that are in the UK. I wish I knew how much they cost here in Spain so we could compare. Too bad about the sink, too. At least you have a maintenance log. When things break in my parents’ flat in Ourense, it takes forever and a day to get them fixed. No maintenance log means the owner of the building can just ignore the issue.
The biggest pain of two tap sinks is getting children to wash their hands in them.
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As another young American expat in the UK (london) I have to agree with your loathing of two-tap sinks, and also need to tell you that you should feel free to continue to hate them with impunity: not only can you turn off the water supply to American mixer taps under the sink, but they have knobs to do it (one for hot and one for cold)! It’s funny because I heard a complaint from a friend about needing an allen key to turn them off just a week after reading your post 🙂
You’ve inspired me to update my blog some more, good job!