The handle on our toilet came off the other morning. I lifted up the lid to find the nut holding it on had come off. I screwed it back on. As I did I noticed it had a left-handed thread. They do this so that the handle won't unscrew itself every time someone flushes.
I remember my brother, David, teaching me about left-handed threads as I was watching him work on his bicycle. Bicycles use left-handed threads for the same reason toilet handles do, so the peddles won't unscrew themselves as you peddle down the road. The right-hand crank has left-handed threads on its bearing holder and peddle.
How many things we must pick up along life's path: left-handed threads, keep to the right, pass on the left (unless you are in England or a colony). We learn them, and use them, and probably pass them along to others without even realizing.
(I don't know how that handle came unscrewed when the normal effect of using the lever should be to tighten it. Is it a conspiracy? Does someone have a key and is sneaking into our house when we are away and unscrewing the toilet handle? Do they break in through the attic? Is there a Worm-Hole or Time Warp through which the aliens are moving? Is it the Evil Spirit of the Toilet Tank?)
