Loos Change
July 26, 2007
After my third visit to the UK, I cannot help making this important observation! While everything seems to be in abundance, one of the first things that most tourists would notice is the absence of spacious loos and of course the lack of water in any of the toilets!!
I am not just refering to the small loo in the bed and breakfast place that we were staying in London!! We made a road trip across Wales & North England and found the same pattern! When we visited the Cardiff Castle in Wales – a castle that supposedly housed one of the richest men of his times – I was very curious to see the bathroom there!! Lo and behold, it was almost the same size as the one in my overnight stopover!! Ok – it did have a tub, but the commode was in such a small corner – it was almost as if the man didn’t want anyone to know he answered nature’s calls!
Moving on from the size of the loos, I have always been irritated by the practice of using toilet paper! In an effort to understand how on earth someone came up with the ridiculous idea of using paper to clean yourself, I’ve come up with a list of possible reasons for the origin of toilet paper (you can add to this list as well):
- Soldiers in an army were not very sure if they had water everywhere they stayed overnight – I can understand this. But what were the people in city thinking? Was this a way of showing solidarity with the army!
- Ditto campers! One may or may not find water while camping! – Again, understandable and only temporary
- Desert Dwellers – an absolute dearth of water is definitely understandable
- People in cold countries could not face the prospect of having cold water on their rears – Now this is an argument I am certainly not buying. Didn’t these same people take baths? Either they heated the water before the bath or they had cold baths! Either way, couldn’t the same be done in the toilet? Besides, even if there was some reason that this was infeasible back then, whats the problem now? In addition, isn’t there an environmental cost of using so much paper, even if one is used to the yuckiness of the concept!!
So – all you people out there in the west, its time there for a revo-loo-tion!
anand
Entry Filed under: musings. .
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1.
The 'Washer' | July 26, 2007 at 8:39 pm
[I]… anally reciprocate my feelings about the washing.
__r.
I agree with you:
1. I agree to the fact that touching one’s ‘yuckiness’ with their bear hands is better… :-p
And also,
2. No floor drains in western bathrooms. So you could spill and splash your ‘cleanliness’ around at will.
-The ‘Washer’
2.
baba | August 27, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Yes, some “western” agreement with you.
Toilet paper’s ok, but it must be followed with water.
With regard to the UK situation you mention…well, they didn’t – all – bath much. so, if you think they were unclean because of not cleaning their backsides, how dirty must they be when they also don’t bath for weeks or months!
hmmm…Although many of the British learned a lot during the time of the British Raj, they do not seem to have learned about this.
Regarding the lack of floor drains mentioned in the previous comment: In south africa, in the workplace, we do not have floor drains, we have plastic jugs and we must somehow fill them from the flushing water of the toilet or fill it before going into the toilet cubicle.
Anyway, now that you’ve spoken about this, what about the fact that although Indians ([generally? mostly?) wash their backsides, why is it that it is so common to get diarrhoa from food in India? – Because so many of the people serving the food do not clean their hands properly after washing their backsides after toilet and so many have some long fingernails. I wonder if some use a fingernail in the process of cleaning after toilet.