Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

How complex can a public toilet be?

created by chinoodle

(idea) by chinoodle (6.3 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Tue Jul 25 2000 at 17:23:06

I nipped out for a quick sandwich at lunch today, and saw something that puzzled me. Just off Oxford Street (the Marble Arch end) between HSBC bank and some American Steak House thing, there's a public toilet.

It's one of those self contained pod affairs, and looks quite smart for a public toilet. I've never used it (and suspect I never will after today ..) but as I walked past on my way back to the office this guy (presumably a maintenance guy) had opened up the side of it. The whole side panel (about six foot by six foot) was lifted up to reveal a mass of wiring and complex looking bits of equipment.

Now .. I'm not particularly up to speed on the mechanics of public toilets, and I'm not a 'hardware' man per se .. in short I have no idea what to expect to find in the inner workings of a public convenience, but all this stuff looked completely out of place.

It looked like it should be doing something a lot more complicated than:

take money
validate coin
release lock
let hapless victim out after 2 hours


So what the hell are they up to?
  • Filming everyone (this creeps me out)
  • Given that it's next to an HSBC branch maybe someone's secretly monitoring cashpoint transactions or something
  • Perhaps some cheapskate's set up his server in there
  • Maybe it's the entrance to The Bat Cave
Or maybe it's something more sinister ..

(thing) by gwenllian (1.1 d) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Mon Jun 28 2004 at 7:06:01

Being one of those unfortunates who have to sit down on public toilets or else risk making an utter mess, I really, really appreciated the newer public toilets in Europe. Yes, you do need to have appropriate coinage, but LOOK what you get for it...

a toilet that is smell-free, that flushes itself, that has been freshly cleansed, that has actual toilet paper, soap and a working dryer, that doesn't have anyone living in it, that is warm and well lit... what more could you ask?

Well, some places have topped this. I was fascinated by the toilet seat which CAME OUT OF THE WALL, REVOLVED AND WAS CLEANSED by a cute little mechanism that actually scrubbed the darn thing. No longer need I fear sitting lest I come away with some horrific animal life or my favorite parts start to rot off.

Ok, so I'm easily entertained... and no, I didn't manage to smuggle one back home with me *sigh*


printable version
chaos

How can a thinking, rational adult be an atheist? The largest number that can be described in 14 words or less public toilet I saw Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Kanga at the New York Public Library
This toilet is connected to the internet I will REMOVE the fucking toilet seat if you don't shut up sinister Oxford Street
HSBC Ides of March Existentialists make bad boyfriends I had forgotten the bear's name, and could not find my way home to the Thousand Acre wood
Until today, it really pissed me off that I'd become this totally centered Zen Master and nobody had noticed Penguin prostitution And Now for Something Completely Different magnet school
Do bad laws cause lack of respect for the law? per se Steak Persuasion Techniques
How to defrost a fridge women March for Women's Lives potty
No more writeups are being accepted for this node. If you feel you have something to add to this node, post it on your Scratch Pad and contact an editor.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Cool Staff Picks
Look at this mess the Death Borg made!
hatless atlas
rampaging wenchbeast
Serving saké
Let me fall until I believe, you're more than the leaves
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
Gold
Bahá'í
The Worst Moment
Reflections of yourself
Rhapsody on a Windy Night
Everything King James Bible
Catullus 11
extreme ironing
New Writeups
antigravpussy
One fly amongst many(person)
sam512
Moon Base Shackleton, 1978(fiction)
Pavlovna
toy boy(person)
XWiz
tear jerker(review)
Heitah
Anarchy is Order(idea)
jessicaj
July 26, 2008(dream)
Berek
ABBA(person)
devolution
k-hole(place)
Nadine_2
The Sound Of Madness(review)
SwimmingMonkey
Conversations with Fo Fo, the Loneliest dog in Purgatory(fiction)
locke baron
lynx(thing)
Simulacron3
Reality, Dimensions and the Natural Ontology(essay)
SubSane
Making Love to a 9-Foot Woman(person)
Ouzo
Thoughts(idea)
antigravpussy
I fall silent, listening. The breadcrumbs are talking about us(person)
Everything 2 is brought to you by the letter C and The Everything Development Company