Shower Disaster

I am staying in a house that is new to me in every sense.

Our hostess gave me the rundown on the shower which was simple enough. Hot water on the left, cold water on the right. Most older showers are universal, the shower knob is usually placed in between the hot and cold knobs. Before I stepped into the shower I turned the water on and played with the hot and cold knobs until I found a comfortable temp. After stepping into the shower I had to adjust the temperature greatly by reducing the hot water output. As I neared the end of my shower the hot water was nearly turned off completely and despite the cold water being on the shower water raining down was still slightly warm.

I hadn't given it much thought while I was in the shower about how I had turned the knobs off and on. It's practically second nature on how to turn something on and off. As I came to the end of my shower I reached both hands for the cold and hot knobs and turned them to the right to shut them off. However, the water pressure only intensified as the hot water on the left had now been shut off while the cold water on the right side had been turned on all the way. Within seconds I realized that freezing water would probably come raining down on me at any moment and I threw myself towards the wall underneath the shower head where the water couldn't reach me. I grabbed the cold water knob and immediately began turning it to the left to close it.

To my way of thinking that cold knob on the right was backwards. The old standby rhyme of righty tighty - lefty loosey meant nothing to that knob. A right turn on that knob opens the cold water up full throttle. Here's hoping I don't make that same mistake tonight.