On toilet paper

The quality of toilet paper in New Zealand needs to be addressed. The quality is lacking. We bought some toilet paper, and then realized that we still had a few rolls brought over from America. After using the NZ tp for a month, it was downright startling to pull out the American roll. Would you just look at the difference:

Seriously, Gareth shouted from the bathroom, "this toilet roll is HUGE!!" And it is. I find New Zealand toilet paper is extremely wimpy. Gareth suggests that it can hold up to even the toughest tasks, but I'm not so sure. Now that this American toilet paper is back in our bathroom, it will be hard to go back. But this isn't a dealbreaker or anything.

While we're in the bathroom, it might be interesting to our American readers to see a couple other differences here. Like this: two faucets.

One for hot water, one for cold water. I really can't think of a single benefit to having separate taps. It's especially an issue when you want warm water. The hot tap will spit out warm water for a second or two, but then too quickly it becomes scalding water. The idea, I guess, is to fill the sink with water from both taps to create warm water, but that's a pain. Again, just something to get used to, and not a dealbreaker. But when we buy a place, we're definitely not going to put up with this separate tap nonsense. They do make combined taps, but our bathroom just isn't fitted with one.

And then there's this:

Two flush buttons. One for number one, one for number two. Why use the full amount of water for every flush when sometimes half the water will do? Neither of us has ever seen two flushers on an American toilet, but it was pretty common in Britain. This is just brilliant as far as we're concerned.