Vinyl

A moldy shower liner is right up there with disgusting things. It's just hard to feel clean coming out of a shower when the liner is starting to have that moldy look to it.

So Nathalie and I went to the local megaplex-discount store to buy replacement shower liners. The cover to the new shower liner I found advertised quite proudly that their product had magnets embedded into the vinyl. Three of them, in fact. Which I guess is better than having only two magnets.

I suspect that the purpose of these magnets are to give the shower liner some weight so that it will hang nicely in the shower. But what difference does it make whether it's a magent or just a piece of cast iron? In fact, in respect to a weight-to-volume ratio, the same small sized piece of cast iron would offer more hanging weight. And probably cost less. For health reasons, I can understand why the manufacturer avoided lead, but why magnets?

One could argue that the magnets are used so that it will cause the shower liner to stick to the sides of the tub, and thus maintain its position in the shower. Yet, this would only work if you had an old-school clawed cast iron tub instead of the fiberglass tubs that we all have now. I'm no physics whiz, but I know magnets and fiberglass feel nothing for each other.

Regardless, now a fresh new piece of clear vinyl lines the shower and fills the bathroom with that headache inducing "new vinyl" smell. And occasionally, I'll happen to look down while I'm in the shower and notice the three little magents in the shower liner, and wonder why they're there.