Toilets are a lot easier to fix than people imagine. No, really (unless I'm imagining that people imagine they're a lot harder to fix than they actually are). This is the essential gubbins from our toilet, which had been there for nearly twenty years. Eventually (and you'll find this out), they start to wheeze, and fail to flush, and then you can either replace a valve-type-thing or the much easier procedure of replacing the whole mechanism. They're not that expensive, so it wasn't a difficult choice. Interesting that I could get a replacement that just fits after so long. I suppose there's not that much competition in the industry, and fitting everything to a standard suits everybody. The opposite of razors, then.