British plumbing is just as different from American plumbing as their spoken words are from ours. In a pub, in a motor car and in the loo, language and cultural differences abound, as we discovered on a recent trip to England and Wales. “Chips” as in “fish and chips” aren’t potato chips, but French fries. If it’s chips you wanted, well, you should have asked for “crisps.” If you’re asked to choose between a “brown bap” and a “white bap,” you’re selecting the bun for your sandwich. “Boots” and “bonnets” aren’t clothing but car parts (the trunk and the hood). And the cistern in the loo isn’t for collecting rain water.
People travel for all sorts of reasons. For us, after working with American plumbing for years, learning about British plumbing was a natural extension of our interests. Since water heating is our primary focus, that’s all we were planning to study overseas. But other things grabbed our attention. We found toilets flush differently, strange drain lines poke out of buildings from unexpected places and odd storage tanks dwell in attics.