Singing the Praises Of The Bidet

     I never understood why bidets are so popular here in Italy.  In a city where space is such a precious commodity I always thought a bidet was nothing but wasted space.  Most bathrooms are so small that it is unheard of to have both a bathtub and a shower stall, yet there is always a bidet.  I have always thought of the bidet as a useless piece of plumbing that if removed would provide space for a storage cabinet; storage space being in such shortage in Italian apartments that it is seen as almost luxurious.  No hoarding happening here in Florence as you are constantly considering what you can purge to make room for something new.  For those of you that don't know what a bidet is, it is a low-mounted plumbing fixture, closing resembling a toilet, "intended for washing the genitalia, inner buttocks, and anus".  Really, can't a shower once a day take care of anything that a bidet is taking care of?   How gross can it be down there that you need a special plumbing fixture to take care of it?

     Then it came to me one day.  I had an epiphany.  During the spring and summer months when you wear sandals the dirt on the streets is an unavoidable hazard of city life.  At the end of the day your feet are literally caked in a layer of black, that trust me you do not want to take into your bed.  Often it is so bad that you wash your feet more than once in the day.  I scrubbed my feet in the tub, and then had to clean the tub with cleanser to get rid of the black grime.  One day as I walked into the bathroom to clean my feet before bed and it hit me, the bidet is a small tub of sorts, so why not use it to clean my feet and not get the big tub dirty.   Late at night cleaning a tub is the last thing you want to do.  I know for someone you is "gifted", skipped a grade in high school and has a Masters degree, I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes.  I am embarrassed to say how long it took me to clue into the actual usefulness of the bidet.  I will admit to it being more than one season.  Now, I am singing the praises of the invention of the bidet.  While I have never used my bidet to clean my ass, it does make scrubbing the city grime from my feet much easier.