Andrew Rankin was credited in 1866 for designing the urinal with flush. This certainly was the copyright time but the urinal dated from 9th Century. The Romans did not flush away the urine though collected and sold it in the market. It was primarily used to soak animal skins in to remove the hair.
I stood in a hotel reception recently and a guest asked the Eastern European receptionist where was the nearest convenience. She stared back at him bemused and I interjected and said ‘ you know loo ‘. She then stared back at me totally bemused and I directed the guest myself to the toilet. I then explained to the receptionist and she said ‘ oh yes the bathroom’ I said ‘ that’s right but he didn’t want a bath ‘ !!
All very confusing I know but that’s the English language for you. Even our sayings can mislead ‘ taking the pee ‘ for example is to make fun of ‘ but there’s little relationship between the two is there not ? ( unless you wet your pants laughing).
The toilet these days is a complicated convenience especially those shared by every gender. More of a shock I found at Heathrow AirPort recently was whilst standing at the urinal I found in the corner of my eye a woman entering to clean. She was completely not bothered and clearly used to it all. While on the way out I apologised to her, I still don’t know why but I found the experience very inconvenient. Call me old fashioned but I was slightly concerned where her mop might get directed.
In the Connaught Hotel in London they still have a man in the toilet who runs the tap as you go there and whether that’s a steer to pee more or a hint to wash your hands I still don’t know. However if you don’t put some money in his basket at the side for sure you’ll never be let back in.
Yes some things in Britain remain decidedly inconvenient and embarrassing. It could of course be worse , open pits et al.
qbitblogger 