Consuming Interest

A Foreign Object

By LESLIE ADRIAN

THERE was a time when to mention the word 'bidet' in

Anglo-Saxon society was al- most certain to produce a snigger or music-hall-type joke. The built-in giggle about this eminently sensible plumb- ing fixture from the 'naughty' Continent has been based, I gather, upon the erroneous view that its uses are uniquely erotic and for women only. This misconception has been deep- rooted and general.. A friend who inherited a beautiful green one along with his leasehold on a London house says his daily cleaning woman burst out laughing when she first saw it, then gave it a pat and said, 'Well, you cheeky little thing . .

But widespread travel in Europe has been altering this view gradually, and to judge by the number of builders and plumbingLappliance manufactures in London who supply them (minus the leer), the bidet is coming into, its a own as the excellent hygienic fixture for men and women that it is. Luxury hotels, like Claridge's, install them. One wonders why the more up-to- date hospitals don't follow suit. For semi-in- valids, for whom baths can be exhausting and enervating, their convenience should be evident.

Alfred Goslett's, of Charing Cross Road, both manufactures and supplies bidets. Anyone con- templating the installation of one would be well advised to have a look round the Goslett show- rooms, where half a dozen handsomely com- pleted bathroom units are on display: in all, the bidet appears as a companion piece to bath- tub, basin and lavatory. A plain white 'Swan- lyne' fixture costs nearly £20, a coloured one £25 and the two-toned and decorated ones over £30. These prices do not include the cost of installation.

Goslett's, in, company with all bidet manu- facturers, do not install them, but prefer that the interested hOuseholder consult his own local Plumber or builder. Other leading suppliers are W. N. Froy and Sons, of Hammersmith, and John Bolding, and Sons (head o(lice, Davies Street, WI), and their prices, with slight varia- tions, are comparable with the ones mentioned above.

in the matter of actual installation. some in- teresting Anglo-French differences emerge. In France, a bidet is classed as a wash basin and

can thus be installed separately from the lavatory wastepipe—hence its presence in hotel bed- rooms, sometimes hundreds of yards from the lavatory. Of course, it's cheaper to install one in this category, .too. In England, its phimbing must be in the soilage category and is thus customarily connected to, (and close by) the lavatory and its wastepipe. Installation is costly, and, depending on the intricacy or age of the household pipes, can range anywhere from £15

to £35. -- Reasonable alternatives (but obviously less luxurious) to expensive installation are the portable, enamelled tin bidets which sell at Harrods and John Bell and Croyden's for about £3.

With any luck. with all this new-found bidet- consciousness in leading stores and supply shops,

we may never again hear, how--ha, ha—that jolly old innocent abroad discovered that what he thought was a footbath—ha, ha--oops . . . was something entirely, different.. . .

Ed like to congratulate the Oxford Consumer Group (the first local consumer group to be formed in this country) on its current news- sheet and on the guide to recommended goods and services in Oxford that comes with it as a supplement. The news-sheet contains a report on vacuum cleaners which is the result of a ques- tionnaire sent.to members, and the group makes it clear that the report is not the result of scientific testing of the kind that a national or- ganisation might be able to afford, but is based 'on 'the experience and opinions of a number of owners of the models referred to.' As such, it is a fine example of the kind of survey that can be done at a local level. It was found that one-third of the housewives who had a cylinder cleaner rated as a best buy in Which? would not buy the same machine again because, in their experience, servicing by the manufacturers was simply not good enough. There were also complaints than mechanic's who came to service vacuum cleaners tried too often to persuade the owners to buy a newer model rather than have the old one repaired.

Local consumer groups have been criticised by retailers and manufacturers a good deal lately, mostly, I suspect, because they regard them as a nuisance in that group members will complain in circumstances where others are too lazy or merely embarrassed to do so. Oxford has done itself and the local group movement consider- able credit by publishing its guide to the good things in the city's shops and services. The guide lists 150 firms, from bakers and builders to shoe repairers and wine merchants, and con- tains this warning: 'Please be patient if, as a result of being mentioned in the Guide, a firm becomes too popular to deal with your orders immediately.' That should keep the retailers and manufacturers happy for a while.

* - Another local group, W.I:ford, has published a report on toys in good time to help you avoid mistakes in your ChriStmas-present buying. Toys which parents arc advised not to buy are named (and reasons given) and plenty of sound advice, based on information provided by over 700 parents, is offered. According to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Williams, who began work on the report last Christmas when one of their children was cut by a. tin of pencils, we are all to blame: 'Many toys are designed casually, made con- temptuously, sold irresponsibly and bought in- discriminately.' Rather than give you more de- tails here and in the hopc that you will encourage the work of local groups, I suggest you get your own copy of Toys from Mrs. J. Hollands, 30 Nascot Wood Road, Watford, Hefts (2s. post • free).

A new shop at 189 Brompton Road is showing a positively dedicated attitude to the customer's convenience. Lawrence and Julia Nathan (the shop bears her name) sell nightdresses and pyjamas, dressing-gowns, lingerie, stockings and foundation garments. But instead of waiting for customers to come to them, they are offering housebound and hospital invalids a bring-it-to- you service. If given a little detail about sizes and colour preferences, they will send a girl with an assortment to 'any bedside in London--and 'London' is a rather elastic-sided term in their use of it, stretching from Harrow to Mitcham. For the most part, they sell the well-known brands at the usual prices, but they also have hand-made things in pure silk. They make no

charge for bringing things to your home—but if no sale is made, they require_ a payment of one guinea, which can, however, be treated as a credit against future purchases in the shop. It is intended merely as a deterrent to those who would like an afternoon's chat and trying-on with no serious intention of buying. • The idea was really born some fifteen .),ears ago when Lawrence Nathan was ill and had diffi- culty in persuading men's wear shops to send things round for him to select.

What about a similar service, but available in the evenings, for businesswomen with little time to .shop during the day? The Nathans want to go better than this and, by giving staff time off on Mondays, keep open till very late one

evening a week. But like many another, they may be confounded by the strangling red tape of the Shops Acts which control closing bows. Against all logic, shops can open when parking meters do their best to discourage shoppers: when the' meter restrictions end for the da■ shops are expected to close!