Am in Scotland today.

It is unforgettably beautiful…except that I failed to remember this beauty from my last trip 20 years ago.

Staying at the Balmoral hotel and was reminded of the British struggle to do hotels well. I used to think this was due to the British loathing of anything that looks like servitude.

But this morning as I struggled with a badly designed shower I began to wonder this isn’t also about the ancient problem of hotels in a hierarchical society (as Britain once was so ferociously.)

Travelers are people out of place. It is hard to know what their status is. Besides which hotels are obliged to treat them well, better that is than there standing merits…and that’s annoying for just about everyone.

Now that the UK is more equalitarian, hotels are less vexing for both purposes. So why can’t someone install a shower that is not an act of status belittlement?

Note.  This post was lost due to Network Solutions incompetence and was restored December 26, 2010.  The comments were all lost but I do recall that Virginia Postrel recommended I have a look at Sandoval-Strausz, Andrew K. 2008. Hotel: An American History. Yale University Press.  It is a wonderful book, highly recommended, and entirely germane to the discussion here.  

Details: Too arty photo is from Waverly train station in Edinburgh