Bathroom design "features" guaranteed to annoy me...

There was a water leak in the local area last Friday that has meant very low water pressure all weekend. A highly frustrating experience when you're trying to take a shower and not much more than a trickle comes out that turns cold at inopportune moments!

While I was shivering in the cubicle with my hair full of shampoo, I decided there was little worse than a pathetic shower, and from there my mind started wandering to what other pet hates I have in the bathroom:

1) Second only to a pathetic dribble of a shower for me is the "Rain Shower". You know the ones? The ones designed for you to stand under to be drenched in something akin to a waterfall?

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"What?!" I hear you cry - "surely that totally contradicts your previous statement re little dribbles?!" Well, yes, and no. Here's where I have a confession to make - I don't wash my hair every day. I have long hair, it takes a long time to dry, and (more importantly) style into something vaguely presentable and I honestly don't have the time or the inclination to go through the hassle every day. However, confront me with a rain shower and I frankly don't have a choice as to whether I get my head wet or not. I either have to wear an industrial-strength shower cap, or contort myself by trying to hang outside the torrent of water trying to wash my body and keep my hair dry at the same time.

Plus, sometimes you just want to clean certain body parts - your feet, say - and the only way you can do this is by doing a handstand and pointing them at the jets of water coming from the ceiling.

Finally, not having a hand-held attachment must make it incredibly difficult to clean the cubicle?

2) Mixer taps (lack thereof)

A peculiarly British plumbing dilemma, and popular with the more "classic" bathroom design.

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I like my water a certain temperature. Not scalding hot, not freezing cold, and I don't have the patience to mix it in the sink (which to me always seems slightly unhygienic anyway). Need I say more?

3) Roll top baths

While we're on the subject of "classic" bathroom designs - roll-top baths have no place in the family bathroom. Go on, admit it - I bet you've been seduced by pictures like this in the past:?

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It looks great, doesn't it? Look closely, however, and you will notice one thing about the position of this bath - it's in the middle of the room. Not squashed up against the wall in a bathroom the size of the one in the average British home.

We have a bath like this. It looks fabulous. Or rather, it probably once did....

Notice the floor? That's what happens when you bath children in a roll-top bath. They splash. Ruins your floor. Granted, that can happen with any bath. Most baths, however, are attached to the wall. You don't get water sploshing down behind the bath. Where it is impossible to clean up. You also don't have to clean underneath it. Which is why roll top baths don't belong in family bathrooms. And nobody can convince me otherwise.

4) Outward opening shower cubicles

So you've managed to find a hand-held shower with decent water pressure. You wash, push open the door, and step onto the mat outside, and promptly have all the water that has accumulated on the door of the shower cubicle pour onto the floor with you.

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I understand a door that opens like this is all about ease of access. However, we have the most minute shower cubicle that has a perfectly adequate folding door that keeps all water inside the cubicle where it belongs. Surely it can't be that difficult?

So there you have it, my top bathroom gripes.

Go on - I'd love to hear yours!