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Why don't French loos have handbasins?


CherryB
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In the days when I could use those things, YCCMB, I just yanked the trousers down as far as they would go; grabbed the "bridge" with my left hand and hung onto the loo paper with my right (ready for when I'd finished) and yanked my clothing as far back as I could.  Sandals?  Whatever your footwear you just have to accept that there'll be pee on the soles afterwards, but you could keep a spare pair of washable slip-ons (Crocs or similar) in the car just in case?

Nowadays I have an excellent portable urinal in my car in case the Turks are the only game in town.  Nip into the cubicle, use the thing behind the closed door then tip the urine down the drain.

I keep a pot of sterilising gel in my car as I'm allergic to soap and washing in just cold water (usually the only option at many Aires out in the sticks) makes my hands very sore.

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I would never hold my drawers in my teeth. If I hadn't got where else to put them, then as 5E said, I push them down my bra.

BUT............

I wouldn't think that there are that many women out and about and just taking their pants off, or many wandering around sans slip either, but I may be wrong. Now at home we all do as we please.

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[quote user="idun"]

, or many wandering around sans slip either, but I may be wrong. .

[/quote]Now is the cue for Sweets to come back.  I seem to remember when she did her walk that this was the reason she took a skirt.  Do I remember correctly, Sweet 17, or is it my memory playing tricks again?
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That would be ok with a long skirt on,  so I would understand that (but I still wouldn't), wearing trousers, and I wouldn't fancy it, maybe too much chaffing.[8-)]

Still in case of accidents, then I wear undies and always will as I had a bit of a silly accident about 8 years ago, whilst wearing a long skirt and undies, which was a good job as my rescuer would have had a surprise!

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Alas, Coops, you remember only too well![:(]

But do I really have to re-live some of my worst nightmares and most embarrassing moments of my life just to entertain you all?

The skirt was a wonderful decision and was made after suej advised that a friend of hers wore a sundress on the same walk and found it most useful.  So, on the days when I had my skirt on, it was easy to preserve my modesty and all was achieved with the minimum of fuss (no need to hold knickers in my teeth and indeed less need to whistle).

The worst of it was when I lost ALL of my knickers (yes, all three pairs) and I had to do without for several days until I got to a town that was big enough to have a knicker shop.

In the end, I decided it didn't matter as the shorts and trousers I had were washed after each wear anyway.  The difficult part, however, was the night time.

I'd get into my sleeping-bag fully clothed, then surreptitiously remove my trousers and hope that I didn't expose all whilst asleep.  I must add that I am a very untidy and restless sleeper with flailing arms and legs.

My only comfort was that, if I was awake, I could keep covered but that, if I was asleep, I wasn't going to know about any amused audience, was I?

As for the toiletting facilities on the Camino......the less said about them, the better, I think.

And, yes, I did develop tremendously strong legs and not just from the walking.  I developed them through the repeated practice of using all toilets without touching the seat with any part of my body.

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Whistling is good girls, it's a well known aid to us men getting a flow going, the tune doesn't really matter as long as it isn't 'Two Little Boys' [;-)]

To see what us boys get up to in there.................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSKL3ohnr3A

Actually it's a gross breach of urinal etiquete of course, the 3rd man correctly should have occupied the center urinal on the opposite side [:D]

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Wow! I've only just got back to this thread and what a tremendously enlightening and entertaining heap of replies. Thank you to everyone, I feel quite honoured after “lurking” on this forum for a while to get such a response to my first post.

Erm, no… it hadn’t occurred to us to either ask permission or declare the fact that we had added a basin to the “room” housing our downstairs loo (more like my husband’s tool shed actually). As you had to walk from this room through the utility room and to the far end of the living room/kitchen to reach a sink it had seemed like the first necessity on the long list of must-dos.

Upstairs the bathroom was a very long room with a bath at one end, a basin in the middle (between two windows) and a loo tightly enclosed in a brickwork cabinet… and a clear glass door, at the other end. Needless to say the brickwork and door came down early on too. Would the totally un-private enclosure have been a tax dodge too? There was no ventilation so it held no advantage that way.

I feel I have hi-jacked my own thread now as it has moved on to new levels!

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[quote user="Frecossais"]Several pages back. mention was made of toilets squeezed into tiny bathrooms, well do I remember my brother emerging from one such, grumbling that he'd had to sit with his legs so tight together that his "doings" came out like after-eights.
He's not into euphemisms though!
[/quote]

First  giggling of the day ...

off to the loo now ; then work ...! [Www]  [:)]

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I have been away for 24 hours and it is instructive to see how this thread has developed since I last looked at it.

I have found the contributions on the ... err ... gymnastics required when visiting certain ... err ... installations by those who are not male of great interest.

They may find the following link useful http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080418201605AAmbPTE and googling "how to pee when standing up" will generate pages of useful links.

 

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On the plus side for public loos, I love those no-touch flushing buttons - anyone ever seen one in a domstic setting? And I like the entrances to the loos to be around a corner so to speak so there is no need for an entrance door (and handle that other, un hygeinic, people may have touched). Now all they need to invent are non-touch cubicle door locks. Also love the newer, fast drying, Dyson hand dryers but our Hyper U has set it so high it is impossible for children to use and even I have to contort my arms at a very awkward angle with elbows skywards in order to insert my hands.Must have been a very tall man wo installed it.
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Has anyone mentioned yet, this time-favoured activity for some: READING while sitting in the toilet for ages and ages. I have always wondered how this works in relation to those ubiquitous germs - I mean, you have to be able to put your book away, finish your business (wiping, that is), AND wash your hands before you can get hold of the book again, etc...

So far, I have yet to see a system that takes reading into account...what does the panel think?

And in spite of being someone who DOES wash her hands systematically and regularly, I can't resist looking at the literature lying about on a side-shelf in the WC - whereas, I never touch magazines left in doctors' waiting rooms. I also have to confess that sometimes, I do go to the loo WITH the book I am currently reading.[:'(]

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[quote user="5-element"]

Has anyone mentioned yet, this time-favoured activity for some: READING while sitting in the toilet for ages and ages. I have always wondered how this works in relation to those ubiquitous germs - I mean, you have to be able to put your book away, finish your business (wiping, that is), AND wash your hands before you can get hold of the book again, etc...

So far, I have yet to see a system that takes reading into account...what does the panel think?

And in spite of being someone who DOES wash her hands systematically and regularly, I can't resist looking at the literature lying about on a side-shelf in the WC - whereas, I never touch magazines left in doctors' waiting rooms. I also have to confess that sometimes, I do go to the loo WITH the book I am currently reading.[:'(]

[/quote]

I shouldn't worry too much, 5-e, they'll mostly only be your own germs, n'est-ce pas?

As long, that is, as you refrain from taking a RECIPE or Cookery book of any sort into the bog!

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I think we've inadvertantly found another positive for Kindles - easily wiped and disinfected post bog visit![:D]

I'm suddenly having to be very careful about such things at the moment, having been pretty carefree (and free of tummy upsets also, I have to say) up to now.   Reading this thread I see that it can border on an obsession for some and I now realise how come there are so many disinfectants and other products on the market these days when my mother just used to manage with soap, a box of Flash and a bottle of bleach.

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