Sumer is Icumen In

[qatarperegrine]

I got in the shower a little after middday yesterday (since I'd spent the morning cleaning the apartment) and turned the tap entirely to "cold." The water that came out was almost too hot to shower in comfortably.

When I lived in the States I never thought about the fact that "cold," in this context, really just means "the ambient temperature." Or rather, in the States tap water is only predictably cold because it's coming into your house from underground pipes. Here in Qatar, "cold" water comes from the water tank sitting in full sunlight right outside your apartment. At this time of year, that water can in no way be described as "cold."

Some people switch the hot and cold taps during the summer. Turning off your water heater converts your hot water tank (which is indoors, and thus air conditioned) into a reservoir of cold water. That "hot" water can then be used to cool down the actually-hot water that comes from the tap marked "cold." It gets confusing to remember which tap is which, though.

Comments

[roach2600.livejournal.com]

It gets confusing to remember which tap is which, though.
I washed dishes at a restaurant for 4 summers in high school. After the second summer, they switched the hot and cold on one of the sinks. Every night after, I would burn myself at least once (this place had 160 degree Fahrenheit hot water). I could not rewire myself completely for hot on the right, but I'd never realized how ingrained the pattern of "hot-left cold-right" was.

[kartiksg.livejournal.com]

They came out with new building guidelines in Dubai for this -- all overhead tanks must now be under shades, painted white and be made of a particular kind of material. That reduces the temperature by some degree Celsius --- doesn't really help though. I just got used to never taking cold showers... and then I came to the states.... :-P

[qatar.livejournal.com]

It kind of amuses me that they'd need guidelines for this. DUH, why would paint a tank anything other than white??

[(Anonymous)]

Hehehe you are seeing it the wrong way. Why *paint* it if it saves even a small amount of money not to. Why ever maintain the paint at all?

Thats why the guideline is there :).

[kartiksg.livejournal.com]

that was me btw

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

Pfft, seems perfectly obvious to me. Change the labels on your taps, so one says "AMBIENT" and the other says "INDOOR". You could even put a little colour chart on the bathroom door to say "RED = INDOOR. BLUE = AMBIENT".

Here's even a little way to remember which is which. Blue is the colour of the sea, and rain, and sky, and outdoor things. Therefore blue is the colour of the outdoor temperature.

Red, on the other hand, is the colour of tapestries, couches, the lamb's blood over the door, and the tomato juice in the fridge, and all sorts of other indoor things. Therefore red is the colour of the indoor temperature.

Easy-peasy!

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Lamb's blood?!?!?!? Wow, your interior decoration must be a lot different from mine.

(Anyway, the lamb's blood had better go on the OUTSIDE of the doorframe, or else the Angel of Death will only know you're Jewish when he's LEAVING, and by then it's a bit too late.)