re: #9 Jimmah

We still have those taps (faucets) in most kitchens/ bathrooms, although the mixer style is slowly gaining ground. I see that as more of a style choice though.

I personally much prefer separate hot and cold taps in the bathroom - I get ever so slightly annoyed by the extra work involved in getting just cold or just hot out of a mixer tap and the water mixes just fine in the basin
I can’t actually remember the last time I saw separate taps in a UK kitchen tho’, the swivelly mixer tap seems pretty universal and makes sense except maybe for poncey designer-retro Belfast type sinks
(maybe I’m just unobservant or never offer to help with the washing up..)

As for water quality, England is not good - limey, alkaline water that tastes bad and clogs up your pipes/kettles etc. London’s water is about the worst, imo - a glass straight from the tap will leave your mouth tasting like you’ve just smoked a fag. Scottish water on the other hand, is a comp[letely different story. No hardness, no weird flavour- tastes exactly like New York water, actually.

The water in the Lake District where I grew up is incredibly soft, - visiting back from where I live now which IFAIK has the hardest water in the UK I tend to forget and end up fighting a mass of foam in the shower when I wash my hair

Water quality in the UK is more to do with geology than Maggie