Wow, that's pretty good. A mate of your's told you that...
Must be a fact then.
The idea that toilet stalls were/are built that way to save money or to, at a glance, to see if a stall is occupied, I guess never occurred to you I suppose. But no, it is nefarious plot to keep people from preforming sexual acts in public toilet faculties, cause your mate said so.
I don't know about you, but personally, I have never desired to be using a public toilet and have two people have sex in the next stall, regardless of their sexual preference. Perhaps you do.
Oh well, different strokes for different folks is what I say, I do.
This is of course utterly disgusting but she tells me it's not unusual and it is one way to make friends with a sledge dog.
Morning ablution rule #1 when flying in the bush: Always do your business beyond the length of the sled dog's chain if you were worried they'd take a snap at your ass.
There's a barn, or used to be, next to a mountain restaurant in Kitzbuhel where the privy in the corner hangs over a cliff of maybe 200 to 300 ft. Cold draught too on the essentials while crapping.
Went to an event in Spain where the temporary facilities where a little under provided. Went to use one of the blue things quite early on, opened the door and found the sh*t literally piled about a foot high above the seat. Quite offputting.
The mate is a specialist in municipal bonds and works for the US Government on an ad hoc basis funding their fetishes. I presumed therefore that he knew his way around a crap cube. Obviously his information was incorrect. Little green and red indicators on normal lavatory doors won't do in the States to show whether a cubicle is empty or full? No indeed, in the USA one must be able to see the body in the bog? Does this not prove that Americans are seriously attached to industrial voyeurism?
I did National Service in the Israel Defence Forces in the early 1960s, specifically at a disused British Army camp south of Haifa. The camp occupied a huge tract of land at the bottom of Mount Carmel but, paradoxically, had a complement of men that could be counted on the fingers of both hands, as the establishment was earmarked for emergency use by a reserve infantry brigade.
On the very first Saturday morning after my arrival I set off to explore the further reaches of the camp. I found out that Their late Britannic Majesties King George V's and VI's military forces in the Holy Land had apparently practised a strict policy of apartheid when it came to the expulsion and disposal of human bodily wastes.
The officers' quarters, it appeared, had been equipped with water closets. The senior NCO's barracks had used the "thunder boxes" so beloved of Indian Army cantonments - but the OR (other ranks) had to make do with Australian dig and dump “dunny" sheds.
I had served at "Camp 137", aka Tireh South, for two and a half years National Service, and a further three years in the career army, before my brigade moved to its purpose-built base in the Upper Galilee. Making the transition from the insanitary and stench-ridden 1940s to hygienic post-Six Day War flushing mod cons was sheer bliss!
Little green and red indicators on normal lavatory doors won't do in the States to show whether a cubicle is empty or full? No indeed, in the USA one must be able to see the body in the bog? Does this not prove that Americans are seriously attached to industrial voyeurism?
Might I respectfully suggest that, in the case of US military and penal establishments, a possible reason for "industrial voyeurism" might be the prevention of illicit sexual practices?
[Sorry, unnecessary duplication of ideas. I posted the above before I read con-pilot's earlier oeuvre.]
In the Boulevard Rosa shopping centre in Barcelona (south side of the Passeig de Gracia) the public toilets have liquid crystal doors, and are transparent when open. Shut the door and slide the bolt and they go opaque. I have never had the courage to use them.
At one time, so-called superloos were positioned in some city centres in England. These were 'capsules' rather than buildings, and it was rumoured that the door mechanism was on a timer such that after a given time the door would swing open. I believe the concept was to avoid drunks passing out within and it being difficult to retrieve them, but, for anyone that required a long time to complete their business it meant that they risked being exposed to public gaze.
Are the Barcelona loos the ones that remain transparent from the inside when activated? (I have dreams like that, usually after late-night gorgonzola!)
Are the Barcelona loos the ones that remain transparent from the inside when activated? (I have dreams like that, usually after late-night gorgonzola!)
the ones that are opaque from the inside but transparent from the outside for the entertainment of the tourists ?
The idea that toilet stalls were/are built that way to save money or to, at a glance, to see if a stall is occupied, I guess never occurred to you I suppose.
i always thought it allowed for easier washing down / mopping and reduced floor/wall edge for unsanitary build up..
on the 'lost coil' stories, i used to work in the marine trade and a colleague used to engineer on the race circuit, which were often on lakes and without conveniences so the old sh*t pit was dug. with the constant in out of boats on trailers it would get muddy necessitating wellies and waders. so a dy at the races could turn out to be quite a muddy event, but i digress..
One of the engineers had retired to the pit to lighten his load and enjoyed a rather spectacular movement and, as you do, turned around for the cursory inspection of a fine 'loaf' only to find it missing. Spinning around and a brief search gave no indication of where the mighty manufacture had escaped to, so wiped, readjusted the clothing thinking no more about it and about three paces off suddenly discovered its new found location; down the back of the welly.
so to add to con pilots instructions on using squat toilets it should be added that under no circumstances, unless to you have certain Germanic predilections, wear wellies into a squat toilet.
I've never given the subject any thought, but on reflection the suggestion that it aids cleaning (no crevices and the possibility of hosing-down the whole floor area) outweighs any consideration of voyeurism or practice prevention.
Foreign toilets; they are what they are, and either you use them without bellyaching about it, or you eventually get home with a hell of a bellyache.
To extrapolate from their construction an entire country´s national character seems pretty daft though.
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Almost 100 posts and nobody has yet mentioned that pinnacle of toilets; the Japanese robopotty?
Gently warmed seat, generating white noise to cover any other embarrassing noises, a pictorial placard explaining the many cleansing and drying functions available at the touch of a button or even via a handheld remote control.
Toilet Paradise, waste evacuation heaven, more hygienic than kitchen counters in the rest of the world.
When it comes to toilets, the Japanese are Masters of The Universe.
