Bathrooms, Showers, Toilets and Ewww Part 2: How to Descale Your Shower Head

One of the first places I lived in Bath was a shared house. We all had separate agreements with the landlord, but we shared a kitchen, a bathroom, a toilet, and a washing machine. The kettle was covered in limescale. In fact, it was virtually impossible to boil. Moreover the silver of the shower head had turned completely white. There is very little water pressure on most of this island. That shower literally dripped while spraying water out its sides. I asked one of my flatmates about both the kettle and the shower, he shrugged and told me it was a function of rentals in Britain. And we had a man who needed an attitude adjustment. In fact, it was a function of poor housekeeping. I can hear you laughing. I know you've seen all the dust in my photos.

So in today's installment of  Bathrooms, Showers, Toilets and Ewwww, I bring you: How to Descale Your Shower Head.

Step 1: Boil your kettle and make yourself a cup of tea. Then refill your kettle to the top most fill line. Reboil. And follow the directions on your descaler of choice. (Descalers can be bought at the local hardware store, scalers, and most grocery stores). I know that you'd never assume that all chemicals work the same way, aren't dangerous, or that I know everything.

Make cup of tea, boil kettle, go to step two

Step 2: Put boiled water into giant bucket. Make sure giant bucket is clear of other cleaners. Bleach and everything don't mix, and I like you and your lungs. Detol and most everything don't mix, and I like your soft skin. (The boil portion of this step may be completely unnecessary depending on the product you're using. The not mixing chemicals portion of this step is absolutely necessary.)

Step 2: Put water into bucket that has no other chemical residue in it.

Step 3: Open bathroom window. Place bucket into your bathtub. Make sure you are wearing any protective equipment called for by your descaler box. Add descaler. It is very important that you do not put your bucket on your bathroom floor. There is always some chance of overspill from the chemical reaction you may be creating. Add descaler. Did I mention that you should follow the directions on your descaler? I mean that.

The white bumps are limescale. It also builds up inside the grey bits.

Step 4: Remove shower head from shower head pipe (or hose for you Americans). Put it gently into your mixture. Get out of the bathroom until enough time has elapsed. Most descaler makes one heck of a smell and makes the lungs a wee bit ouchy. I'm really not kidding about the whole follow directions on the bottle thing.

Note: My model is not wearing gloves. Do not follow her example.

Step 5: Poor bucket down the drain and rinse everything with cold water before reattaching to the shower. I always run the shower for a few minutes after descaling. If scale is still present it helps to brush with an old toothbrush (clearly marked as descaling toothbrush) after you've rinsed away the descaler.

Shiny. Note: I did not put hose into the descaler

Step Six: Consider something friendlier. Vinegar and water will descale your shower head just as well as more caustic store bought mixtures. Your shower head will have to soak much longer (I do ours overnight). You will probably have to use some elbow grease. But if you keep up with your descaling (once a month at least), it isn't so bad.

Iota mentioned that toilets rarely back up in the UK. This is true. I do not own a toilet plunger. I'll let you know why that is on Monday. If you click the Facebook Like button on the right-hand sidebar, you'll be able to see more of Bath's flower boxes.

You can read Part 1 of this series here: Fabulous Things About England #33: Baths

The first batch of sourdough failed miserably. The second is gooood.

My Bologna Has A First Name: It's T-U-R-K-E-Y

Early last week, Mrs. AmericanEnglandStyle sent me a text saying that she'd discovered bologna in the aisles of her local grocery store. I didn't believe her. Mrs. AmericanEnglandStyle has been in the country for almost a decade. I've got five years behind me, and between my American-expat friends, we've probably spent a century at our local grocer's. Collectively, we've spent many hours sampling food we've never heard of and buying new-to-us foods. I simply did not believe Mrs. AmericanEnglandStyle. I thought perhaps that she'd forgotten exactly what bologna tastes like.

So when I went to visit Mrs. AmericanEnglandStyle she produced the above packet. Remind me to never ever again doubt her word. I have never liked bologna (although my sisters maybe inclined toward correcting that statement). As it turns out, I still don't like bologna. And Turkey Ham is, let me assure you,tastes like bologna. And it has the texture of wafer sliced, well, bologna. Suffice it to say, I may sing the Oscar Mayer Bologna song, but I wont be eating it any time soon.

I will however be eating many yummy things when I'm at home. Take note my sisters, I need some food.

1. Mexican Food (Colorado version)
2. Tostitos, Fritos, and corn nuts, Doritos--You can get Doritos here. They're good, but not the same.
3. jalapenos--the fresh variety.
4. Life Cereal
5. Clam Chowder
6.bbq beef
7. A steak that is actually rare.
8. Corn bread.
9. Wintergreen lifesavers.
10. Root beer
11. Bratwurst (by which I mean the American version)
12. Grilled corn on the cob
13. Corn on the cob.
14. Watermelon (you can get it here, but yuck)
15. Meatloaf.
16. Pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and american breakfast sausage.
17. EasyCheese. (I suspect I will think this is gross after one squeeze, but yum)
18. French Toast (I can get and make this here. I just don't want to call it eggy-bread).
19.Lox and Bagels.
20. A reuben sandwhich.
21. BlueCheese dressing.
24. An American Style salad.
25. Something deep fried with Ranch dressing.
26. Fried Chicken.
27. Sloppy Joes
28. Grilled Cheese (Yes it is different than cheese on toast.
29. A BLT wish crispy bacon. (I know I say streaky bacon is the same, but it isn't).
30. Waffle for breakfast.
31. A sausage and green olive pizza.
32. Sopaipillas



I'll think of more before I get there, I'm sure.

The Price of Milk

I am inclined to tell you that I wish I had done better research into the cost of living here before leaving Alaska. I looked at all the obvious indicators before I agreed to pursue the remainder of my education here. A flat would cost me quite a lot more, but said flat would have running water and a nearby bus stop. So if I subtracted the cost of petrol (car gas), insurance, and wear and tear on the Mitsubishi, the cost seemed to even out. The cost of heating would go down, but the cost of water would go up. Even with the two-to-one exchange rate in 2005, it looked to me like my life was about to become significantly cheaper.

I had not counted on the cost of food. Nor had I counted on finding that I could no longer subsist on the cheap canned food that had gotten me through my first year in Alaska. The exchange rate is now 1.6 to 1. The cost of a milk in England is also much easier to come by.

Type in 'milk' into any of these sites to see what the major grocery stores are charging. There are 3.7 liters in an US gallon or 6.6 pints in an US gallon.

Waitrose--www.waitrose.com
Sainsbury's--www.sainsburys.com
Asda (Walmart)--www.asda.com
Tesco--www.tesco.com

If you want to see what your average weekly shop might be in your city you can use the tools at www.mysupermarket.co.uk

Today the average price of milk seems to be about 84 pence per litre, 3 pound a gallon, 5 dollars a gallon.

I'm glad I hadn't been able to do the maths (math) when I began my journey to England. I think I would have been to terrified to come here.

Pickled What? Part II

The grocery store aisles are too narrow for me to get the whole shelf. But that's two rows of beetroot and three rows of onions, all pickled. The yellow jars to the left are Piccalilli. It's apparently widely consumed in the states as well, but I had never seen it before moving to England. Just below that is Pickle. That's relish in American. To the right are bottles of malted vinegar which is proof that the universe loves me. There is nothing better to put on chips (fries), as a flavoring for crisps (chips), or as a replacement for ranch dressing. Ranch dressing is very hard to come by in England.

Pickled What?

The English like their pickled food. A selection from today's shop: Pickled onion, pickled beetroot, pickled gherkins (pickles), pickled red cabbage, pickled walnut, pickled onions, pickled trotters, pickled chicken eggs, picked hot peppers, pickled quail eggs, pickled shallots, pickled baby corn.

Fabulous Things About England #11

Nutella, the makers of the chocolate sandwich. I know that you can get it in the States, but it isn't a way of life there. It's a perfectly acceptable lunch here. And nutritionally, it gives peanut butter a run for its money.

4. Jam, Jelly, Preserves

The English call Jell-o, jelly. Jam is used to describe both what Americans refer to as jelly and jam. Luckily, its easy enough to tell which you're buying through the glass jar.

3. Temperature

The English use the Celsius scale.

F C
0.....-17
10.. -12
20.. -6
32....0
40....4
50....10
60....15
70....21
80....26
90....32
100..37
250..121
300..148
350..176
375..190
400..204
425..218
450..232
475..246
500..260
525..273

2.

Ovens are called cookers in some parts of England, and stoves are often called hobs.