I like toilets

For all the obvious reasons of comfort and hygiene, obviously. They are fine things and we are lucky to have them. But I also like toilets because they are simple, but elegant. If you take off the lid and look inside the cistern, with a bit of thought you can work out what everything does, which is pleasing.

I fixed our toilet this morning, by looking inside and figuring out that the plug that keeps the water from draining out except when you flush it was not in its proper place. Hah, I don't need a man! And it is a very satisfying feeling to have solved a problem from first principles. I bet your basic toilet design hasn't changed in decades, a nice change from incomprehensible technology that you have no way of fixing yourself.

So I do like toilets. But possibly not as much as the people who built a house shaped like a toilet. It is called Haewoojae, or “a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries”. I think I shall put that on my bathroom door.