Toilets
By Paul Finkelstein (Fink) | October 22, 2010 at 11:27 am
Photo by a shadow of my future self
Along with the other inalienable rights we hold dear to our hearts and fight to defend, “We the People” believe that access to a functioning washroom with a comfortable seat is a right, not a privilege.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the road traveling through Europe, Asia and North America, exploring the world of culture and food with school groups and as well as experiencing incredible family adventures.
On these pilgrimages, we don’t have much use for fast food restaurants on the eating side. But corporate franchise restaurants do actually serve an important purpose – they’re wonderful quick stops for washroom breaks, as they’re usually quite clean, there’s usually (free) toilet paper, and no one ever asks any questions or demands that we buy something first. Of course, since the world’s become such a fast food planet outlets like Mickey Ds and KFC are dotted across the globe, so we never have to drive too far to locate the next emergency stop.
I won’t eat at a fast food joint… but I’ll gladly bring a busload of young tourists to use the facilities.
Different regions of the world offer restroom challenges that would scare off most. Other international toilets are so deluxe it’s tempting to spend half the day sitting on the can.
Italy: In the South of Italy, the toilets don’t have seats. No sitting – you place your two feet in the same well-worn footprints that the Italians have been standing on for centuries to squat. Let’s just say, there aren’t a lot of newspapers getting read in these bathrooms. You do what you gotta do and get out as fast as you can.
Japan: In contrast, the toilets in Japan are space-aged supercans. I will never forget the first time my students saw a Japanese toilet with a heated seat, a built-in bidet and air-dry system in Tokyo. They freaked out – this was a piece of technology that had more bells and whistles than a fully loaded car in our society. It was hard to get them to leave the luxury of the self-cleaning personal waste management system the Japanese have transformed humble toilet into.
France: France’s public toilets are somewhere in between. The French have developed an interesting system for keeping their washrooms clean: the user pays to enter a stall resembling an elongated Porta-Potty. When they’re finished, as soon as they close the door the whole thing is washed clean from the inside by a high pressure spray nozzles. Those unfortunates who try to beat the system and reuse a toilet that’s been paid for often find themselves also experiencing an unexpected shower.
Anyone who’s traveled has a toilet story. When writing this blog I asked my friends and co-workers if they had any experiences to share. Some of course were taken back by an open discussion on a usually private matter, but once they opened up they all had something to share. So let’s hear what great stories you have from your travels. In the end (no pun intended) we’ll probably find we have much more in common on this subject.
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