I keep on getting this message that I havent posted, and then I think Ill do that just now, but just now doesnt arrive! A friend sent me an article on ten things you never knew about ..... TOILETS. Now theres the thing, and so thought I would share the info with you, though you might already know, and use the opportunity to send you pics of the beautiful walls of our very special outside privy, created by a student from #Beyond #Adventure last year. Surrounded by wonderful butterflies, you can just be mellow and think how beautiful the world really is and what is more it makes our campers very happy indeed .... anyway I transgress, bear with me whilst I share some pretty fascinating loo info ..... World Toilet Day became an official UN day in 2013 (really??) thanks to a proposal to its General Assembly from Singapore - this was the first time Singapore had ever put a resolution to the General Assembly. Now Singapore is one of the cleanest countries I have ever visited, and so I can imagine that toilets would be high on the agenda. The water closet (aka WC), dates back to 1589 when it was devised by Sir John Harington when he described the flush, cistern and overflow pipe in his treatise The Metamorphosis of Ajax (used to be a very good cleaning powder!!), published in 1596. In 1881, Mr Ashwell of Herne Hill, South London patented the Vacant/Engaged sign for toilet doors. Dont know about you but have found said sign invaluable, and no doubt he was often caught with his pant down (pardon the pun) which encouraged the invention and patent!! Dont quite know what WC experience brought it on, but it seems that the magician and escapologist John Nevil Maskelyne invented the coin-operated lock for public lavatories in 1892. An entirely mean and bladder damaging invention I would say. All been there, havent we, with legs crossed digging in the purse for a tickey or a penny or whatever currency applies. One could have called Mr Maskelyne some colourful names if this article had been published sooner!! :) Since 2009 people in Venice have been able to pay in advance online to go to public lavatories. Now this is efficiency and pre-planning at its best, dont you think? I mean, I would have to spend a fortune (rather than the odd penny), for as I get older so do my loo needs and the feeling comes upon me with little or no notice and sneezing is a nightmare!! But ..... and heres a sad indictment of progress - MORE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD HAVE ACCESS TO MOBILE PHONES THAN PROPER TOILETS ..... that is a sad thing, but I guess by building our rather splendid meditation space, we have contributed to toilet progress in some small way, and thank you Amy for making it so pretty!! Bet youre sorry I posted now - hopefully see you sooner than 71 days from now. Come visit why dont you - Ill deactivate the coin operated lock!
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 11:10:57 +0000
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