|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Sideways thinking
|
Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
|
Posted
I recently had cause to drive a hired Fiat Panda for a couple of days. The handbrake, instead of the traditional long thin thing with button on the end, was more like a square flap with the button on the side. It looked odd but it turned out to be the most natural thing in the world as I applied it to slide four fingers under the flap and press the button with my thumb. My wrist didn't need to rotate at all in the process. It made me wonder why the more traditional shape of handbrake ever caught on.
Have shipmates any other experiences of novel takes on existing gadgets that worked out for the best? Or ideas for same?
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
AngloCatholicGirl
Shipmate
# 16435
|
Posted
A friend of mine had an upright computer mouse with the buttons on the right side, rather than on top. It meant that instead of your hand being palm down on the mouse, it was on the side.
It felt very counter-intuitive to start with, but was actually much more comfortable to use long term as you weren't twisting your hand to be palm down all the time. I believe my friend got the mouse because they had carpal tunnel syndrome and this mouse was better for the wrist.
--------------------
Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise -Samuel Johnson
Posts: 75 | From: Now from across the pond | Registered: May 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
|
Posted
For those of you living in England try putting your doors so that they open outwards rather than inwards. You'll find it's much better, especially when small rooms or toilet cubicles are concerned.
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
AngloCatholicGirl
Shipmate
# 16435
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
For those of you living in England try putting your doors so that they open outwards rather than inwards. You'll find it's much better, especially when small rooms or toilet cubicles are concerned.
But then *gasp* we'd have to do things like those foreigners ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
--------------------
Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise -Samuel Johnson
Posts: 75 | From: Now from across the pond | Registered: May 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
For those of you living in England try putting your doors so that they open outwards rather than inwards.
They do open outwards. It just depends which side you're on.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
The handbrake on my husband's car has a button on the dashboard for a handbrake - odd, but much better for the back.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
For those of you living in England try putting your doors so that they open outwards rather than inwards. You'll find it's much better, especially when small rooms or toilet cubicles are concerned.
Easier said than done. Our small laundry room had a door that opened inward, obviously designed by someone who hadn't thought about actually having a laundry machine in the room- even with the door shut, you were going to have about a foot of room to load and unload the laundry. We removed the door, and thought that we would just re-install it the other way. But then you start looking at the frame, the stop, the fact that you would need to drill a new hole for the latch to slide into, and it becomes a task beyond my meager carpentry skills. For now, it's not causing any harm having a random door leaning against a wall in the basement, so we are spending money on other more pressing projects, but one of these days, we are finally going to hire someone to fix that.
--------------------
"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
A cousin changed the door round on the bathroom as a safety matter for his wife - so that if she collapsed in there, the door could be opened. Utterly obvious.
What gets me are the prize winning toilets at Heston service station on the M4. The cubicles have doors opening inwards, with the arc almost touching the seats. At the side of the seat on the non-hinge side is a disposal box. There is thus a very small triangular space on the floor to stand on when shutting the door. I have great difficulty, and though not as small as doctors would advise, I am not a large as many women. I cannot see how the cleaners can reach all the floor, either.
Heston is not the only one like this. But it is the only one which advertises its award.
I think it is usually unacceptably sexist to use the following expression, but here goes.... designed by a man. The phrase, when used with a sort of sighing shrug by a woman, is not intended as a compliment*. Further, in this case, awarded by a man.
Open the things outwards - please.
*It almost always refers to not having thought through the entire process of use, especially the cleaning of whatever it is. (See thread on not designed to be cleaned.)
[ 19. July 2013, 17:15: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
I forget who it was said 'architect-designed' always suggested somewhere you had to hold the toilet door shut with your foot.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
I don't know, but John Betjeman mentioned the popular conception that architects forget to put stairs in the houses they design ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Signaller
Shipmate
# 17495
|
Posted
Seems to me the main reasons doors don't open outwards are that the hall/landing would be seriously restricted unless you closed the door every time you went into a room, and that anyone walking through said hall/landing is likely to get a door in the face. YMMV, if houses in the US are sufficiently large for this not to be a problem. Or didn't someone say a little while ago that you don't have doors at all?
Posts: 113 | From: Metroland | Registered: Jan 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
IME, American homes have fewer doors on average because they are much newer on average. With all the insulation that accompanies this.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Otter
Shipmate
# 12020
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Signaller:
Or didn't someone say a little while ago that you don't have doors at all?
Yes, we lost them in the Great Door Blight of '73. Where once we had doors of all kinds - pocket, bi-fold, hollow-core, steel, and more, today we live in a blighted landscape, where a portal with a door is a special thing and privacy is lost, lost, like the mighty, um, something or other that we lost.
Cherish your doors, my brethren! Cherish them! Polish them lovingly, oil their hinges, take pleasure in the sensual sliding of their mechanisms, grasp their knobs firmly, and turn them slowly, yet sensually, and, and . . .
(goes off to take a cold shower and have a lie-down. This silliness brought to you by a bad case of Friday Afternoon)
--------------------
The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", YMMV, limited-time offer, IANAL, no purchase required, and the state of CA has found this substance to cause cancer in laboratory aminals
Posts: 1429 | From: Chicago, IL 'burbs | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
And if you have a door that opens out, it sets up this problem if you ever need to keep someone out (a few f-bombs in there, for anyone with small kids or bosses nearby).
--------------------
"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
What gets me are the prize winning toilets at Heston service station on the M4. The cubicles have doors opening inwards, with the arc almost touching the seats. At the side of the seat on the non-hinge side is a disposal box. There is thus a very small triangular space on the floor to stand on when shutting the door. I have great difficulty, and though not as small as doctors would advise, I am not a large as many women.
The old Boston Garden had toilet stalls so small you could barely close the door. The Boston Garden is where they used to have the circus. I had to squeeze myself and two small daughters in that space and try to close the door. This is the only kind of situation where I regretted having daughters rather than sons.
Moo
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Felafool
Shipmate
# 270
|
Posted
The parking brake on my car is a foot brake, similar to that used in golf buggies
--------------------
I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty - I ordered a cheeseburger.
Posts: 265 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pulsator Organorum Ineptus
Shipmate
# 2515
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
IME, American homes have fewer doors on average because they are much newer on average. With all the insulation that accompanies this.
I don't understand. What has the age of the property got to do with it? New houses in the UK have just as many doors as old ones of the same size. Can't Americans afford doors any more?
Posts: 695 | From: Bronteland | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
Lol. No, UK design is informed by a time when doors were more needed to keep heat in each room. Before efficient heating schemes and insulation. American house designs are largely born after these innovations and the designs are influenced by this. Or so it seems to me.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Felafool:
The parking brake on my car is a foot brake, similar to that used in golf buggies
I've had cars with foot brakes, which is fine unless you drive a stick shift. (I've seen stick shift cars with foot brakes -- a really bad idea if you live anywhere with hills.)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
Have any of you tried computer keyboards that are slightly curved (as it might be, the shape of a smile)? I remember seeing one once, and as someone who was taught to type on a "typewriter"* it struck me as very strange indeed, although the person who used it said she found it quite comfortable.
While I'm at it, I Condemn To Hell (in a fluffy, heavenly sort of way) the blithering idiot who designed the keyboard of the computer at the Cathedral office, which has a backwards-slash key in the place where your little finger goes for the "enter" key. WHY??????? ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
* yes, I really am that old. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by piglet:
Have any of you tried computer keyboards that are slightly curved (as it might be, the shape of a smile)? I remember seeing one once, and as someone who was taught to type on a "typewriter"* it struck me as very strange indeed, although the person who used it said she found it quite comfortable.
Ergonomic Keyboards of the milder sort use the curved key layout. I use one, it puts a lot less stress on the carpal tunnel. More extreme keyboards do things like have a separate well for each hand or have the keys in vertical clusters.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
I saw a keyboard which each half pivoted up, away from the centre. Adjustable angle. Looked a bit fragile, which may be why I have only seen one.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I forget who it was said 'architect-designed' always suggested somewhere you had to hold the toilet door shut with your foot.
The new Aberdeen University toilets have no paper towels, and the hot-air dryers are positioned above the side of the toilet. On several occasions I've dripped water on the toilet seat while drying my hands, not wanted to leave the toilet looking other than "clean" so wiped the seat dry with toilet paper, then re-washed my hands, dripped water on the seat while drying them....
They are getting better - it used to be that your shoulder turned the hand dryer on whilst you were in situ, and the sinks had motion sensors which initially were so sensitive that they'd turn on if you hung a bag on the hook on the door, and again when you unhooked it. They seem to have desensitised the automatic sensors, though this now also means that the automatic light waits for three seconds before lighting up.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I forget who it was said 'architect-designed' always suggested somewhere you had to hold the toilet door shut with your foot.
Try a parsonage house drawn up with the "assistance" of a Parsonage Board committee ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) ...
The finest example I encountered had the following innovative features:
- floor-to-ceiling windows in the study which you had to pass to reach the front door - no chance of saying 'the vicar's out' then
- a kitchen extractor which came out next to the front door
- hot water pipes going through every single kitchen cupboard, high and low level
- a bath so short it had to be imported from France (rather than reducing the size of a useless cupboard)
- 'fitted' wardrobes with hanging rails at 6 foot with a shelf above, nothing else: very useful for children and people less than 6' tall, specially with no space in 3 out of 4 rooms for a chest of drawers
- a visitors' loo so cramped the bowl of the toilet extended more than halfway across the doorway so only way to use was to have door fully open
When the living was amalgamated they tried to sell the house - ALL local estate agents cited the layout and design as making it nigh on impossible to sell. After 18 months unsold they tried to let out - couldn't manage that either. Latest local gossip is that it will be sold as a 'development project', in other words the only solution is to demolish and build something sensible. ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by piglet:
While I'm at it, I Condemn To Hell (in a fluffy, heavenly sort of way) the blithering idiot who designed the keyboard of the computer at the Cathedral office, which has a backwards-slash key in the place where your little finger goes for the "enter" key. WHY???????
* yes, I really am that old.
IIRC Apple keyboards have always had that layout. My struggle is when I use a Windows keyboard and find myself typing " instead of @, or more usually simply struggling to find the @ key at all.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
When I used to drive my mother's car, I would often switch on the windscreen wipers when I wanted to turn left ... because the stick to operate the flashers was on the opposite side to my car's
When (many moons ago) I did a course on Ergonomics, it was pointed out that "non-standard" design (e.g. valves that turn the "wrong" way) could be dangerous in an emergency as people tended to default under stress to the standard operation.
Please note (UK readers) how, in the opening credits of "Have I Got News For You", the valve is turned anti-clockwise to shut off the flow of Russian oil. Very clever, these foreigners!
[ 20. July 2013, 11:21: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by piglet:
As someone who was taught to type on a "typewriter" (yes, I really am that old) ...
You should read this, then!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
|
Posted
I use an ergonomic keyboard when I can. I love it - it makes a bog difference.
We had a car on holiday in France which had an automatic hand brake. It was a clever idea, but it worried me what would happen if the power failed - I wasn't sure exactly how it worked.
--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Avila
Shipmate
# 15541
|
Posted
After a car bump I was given a hire car with a button handbrake - you had to have your foot on the brake and press the button which triggered a gentle whirring noise and a light.
I Hated It!!!
I missed the physical sensation of the stick handbrake and lived in fear of needing hill tarts as I would normally have the car in handbrake with feet on clutch and accelerator braced for takeoff.
Very glad to get my nice little car hoe,
--------------------
http://aweebleswonderings.blogspot.com/
Posts: 1305 | From: west midlands | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Avila:
I... lived in fear of needing hill tarts...
Very glad to get my nice little car hoe.
Always a great fear ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
(I'm not even touching "Little car hoe"!)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I use an ergonomic keyboard when I can. I love it - it makes a bog difference.
So we see ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by BroJames:
... when I use a Windows keyboard and find myself typing " instead of @ ...
That's interesting - I thought it was a cross-Pond thing. It took me ages to get used to the " and @ keys being in the opposite places to where I was used to when I came over here.
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
|
Posted
It is*. Depends on the keyboard layout.
ETA: *a cross-pond thing.
[ 21. July 2013, 06:10: Message edited by: Wesley J ]
--------------------
Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I use an ergonomic keyboard when I can. I love it - it makes a bog difference.
So we see
I don't use it on the laptop, which is why my posts are so crap. That, and the fact that I am an idiot.
--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I use an ergonomic keyboard when I can. I love it - it makes a bog difference.
We had a car on holiday in France which had an automatic hand brake. It was a clever idea, but it worried me what would happen if the power failed - I wasn't sure exactly how it worked.
I use an ergonomic keyboard which is basically like a normal keyboard hinged in two halves which you place at exactly the angle which you find most comfortable. When I have to go back to a "normal" keyboard I hate it.
--------------------
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
|
Posted
While staying in a hotel one day last week, I did a little clothes washing in the bathroom sink. Silly me, I hadn't even thought to check out the (open air) closet space, and found I couldn't reach the bar to hang my damp blouses up. Yes, I'm short, but holy smokes, shouldn't closets be made for those of us who aren't six feet tall?
I ended up hanging them in the bathroom...well my taller friend did that for me. The shower curtain rod was too high, too. So was the curtain rod at the window.
Maybe I should ask for a short person accessible room, next time!
--------------------
Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
Normal-sized person accessible room. Bloody giants...
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
|
Posted
I have a lovely friend who has kept her figure, nearing 60, but somehow manages not to be normal size for anything.
As she says, the only thing in Marks & Spencer that fits her is socks - and then from the children's department.
--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
If I believed in reincarnation, I would want to come back a standard size.
Moo
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Sideways thinking and the mention of hotel rooms reminds me of one I stayed in where you couldn’t quite open the door because it banged against the bed. The wardrobe door couldn’t be opened to its fullest extent either for the same reason. Towels had to be left on the bed as there was no room for them in the bathroom. And sideways thinking was very definitely needed to get in there.
I was the latest in undoubtedly a long, long line of people who were charged through the nose for this sort of thing and consoled themselves with "It’s only for a couple of nights". The cost of two nights in that hotel room was equivalent to a week’s rent, but I didn’t think of that at the time.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Normal-sized person accessible room. Bloody giants...
I would like to add a request for a shower head that is designed for normal-sized persons. They're either so high that there's no water pressure by the time it reaches you... or so low you have to stoop to wash your hair.
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Higgs Bosun
Shipmate
# 16582
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Sideways thinking and the mention of hotel rooms reminds me of one I stayed in where you couldn’t quite open the door because it banged against the bed.
That reminded me of a holiday I went on with my parents in 1972 to Norway. We went on the rather lovely Leda. My mother had a nice, spacious single cabin, while my father and I shared a small cabin with two bunks. The space beside the bunks was literally too narrow to turn round in. You had to go out of the cabin, or use the bunk. But it was just one night.
I suspect the door opened outwards...
Posts: 313 | From: Near the Tidal Thames | Registered: Aug 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Normal-sized person accessible room. Bloody giants...
I would like to add a request for a shower head that is designed for normal-sized persons. They're either so high that there's no water pressure by the time it reaches you... or so low you have to stoop to wash your hair.
LOL, I was attempting to say jj is normal-sized, not short. What you consider normal-sized, I would consider "bloody giant."
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
What especially irritates me is the location of peepholes on motel doors. They are so high that a short person would have to drag a chair to the door and climb up on it.
Moo
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Higgs Bosun:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Sideways thinking and the mention of hotel rooms reminds me of one I stayed in where you couldn’t quite open the door because it banged against the bed.
That reminded me of a holiday I went on with my parents in 1972 to Norway. We went on the rather lovely Leda. My mother had a nice, spacious single cabin, while my father and I shared a small cabin with two bunks. The space beside the bunks was literally too narrow to turn round in. You had to go out of the cabin, or use the bunk. But it was just one night.
I suspect the door opened outwards...
Tangent... Thanks for the memory... The Leda was a lovely ship, but I am sure it didn't have stabilisers. I remember those tiny cabins too. Sailed on it from Newcastle to Bergen in September 1968, the only time I've ever been seasick, but sailing into Bergen on a bright morning will stay in the memory for as long as I have two neurons to rub together.
[ 22. July 2013, 22:18: Message edited by: Stercus Tauri ]
--------------------
Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
OddJob
Shipmate
# 17591
|
Posted
In these days of converging male and female roles, is it asking too much for kitchen sinks and pushchairs to be designed for an average 5ft 8ins adult of 2013 rather than the average 5ft 4 ins woman of 40 years ago? Ideally they should suit the vast majority of the adult poulation between 5ft 2ins and 6ft 2 ins.
Electronic handbrakes may be easier to use, but on balance are less user-friendly when you factor in the usual need for a computer and software to retract the caliper pistons before fitting new brake pads.
Posts: 97 | From: West Midlands | Registered: Mar 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
LOL, I was attempting to say jj is normal-sized, not short. What you consider normal-sized, I would consider "bloody giant."
[tangent]
Not to my friend! When I've been asked how tall I am (and she has had the great fortune to witness that question many times) she about falls over laughing. Of course, she's descended from Vikings, so has a bird's eye view of the top of my head. [/tangent]
--------------------
Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
Come the revolution, if you can see over the wall, you will be put against it.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I forget who it was said 'architect-designed' always suggested somewhere you had to hold the toilet door shut with your foot.
But of course you don't use the appalling real estate agents' expression 'architecturally designed', which to me must mean 'designed on architectural principles'. Actually realtors' fliers can be counted on to provide hilarious non-grammatical examples; they often feature in the 'Life in NZ' columns in our Listener.
All external doors in public buildings should open outwards, for safety in case of fire. But I don't think it's mandatory.
GHG
--------------------
The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
|
Posted
It's hairdryers in hotel rooms that get me. They are universally crap - some are affixed to the back of a drawer with a cord just slightly too short to enable you to dry your hair while looking in the mirror; others have to be held on by holding down a switch which you really need a broken thumb to reach...
The best was a hotel in Ireland where the hairdryer was in a unit that included a seat and a fold-up lid with a mirror, the idea, I assume, being that you could sit comfortably at the unit and dry your hair in front of the mirror. Which might have been the case if the mirror wasn't much too high if I sat down and much too low if I stood up. I had to crouch at an awkward angle. Still, no doubt it was good for my thigh muscles.
And don't get me started on lighting in hotel rooms...
This is a bit hellish for heaven!
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
