Mixer Taps

I love mixer taps. Almost to the point of obsession. They are so commonplace in the US that we don't even think about them. I'm guessing that most of my US-based friends are wondering why I keep ranting about mixer taps and the lack of them is so prevalent in the UK that most of my friends there are probably wondering what my problem is. Quite frankly, I don't know why everyone doesn't have them. Even if you want an old-fashioned look with separate handles, the water can still be mixed and come out of the faucet at the perfect temperature. 

On sinks like this one, it's fairly obvious.

The hot gets progressively hotter and the cold gets progressively colder. The two don't mix unless you run a sink full of water. If you're trying to wash and rinse your face, you'll have to run several sinks full of water to get all the soap off. On the other hand, if you have mixer taps, you don't have to run several sinks full of water; you can just run the water and splash it on your face.

Then we have this bit of trickery. Based on outward appearances, I was looking at a mixer tap. But when I started splashing water on my face, I once again had part of the water scalding and part of it freezing. The two were not "mixing" but were coming out of the same faucet separately. There was even a plastic piece to keep the hot and cold separate.

Why on earth would anyone install such a device? I don't get it. Anyway, that's it! I'm done. That's really all I have to say about plumbing. At least for now.