All the same - but different!!
Over the past couple of years, yours has done
a few overseas trips, and we're always surprised to find how different
cultures approach similar things in a vastly different manner. Take
toilets for instance:...You would think that a facility for something so
basic and as common as 'going to the toilet' would be approached in much
the same way almost everywhere - but no, each country has their own way of
"doing things".
The toilet (above left) is your average Ozzie
toilet, and I reckon we've got it just about right. It's got a big wide
comfy seat so you can 'snuggle' in, switch off, and spend your 30 or 40
minutes each day reading the latest Wheels or Playboy magazine in blissful
comfort. It's also got a great big opening down the bottom so all the
business can and will safely disappear in the one go. The toilet on the
right (above) is obviously designed as a guest's toilet, with its small
narrow uncomfortable seat which makes you feel like you're "balancing" on
the thing, about to fall off. It has obviously been designed to discourage
lengthly attendances which ensures it's vacant for the larger part of its
life. It also has a small choke hole down the bottom which always retains
some of the business.
The toilet (above left) is from a country
that obviously has abundant rainfall. The seat might be the right shape,
but the awaiting bowl is half full of water before you start - which
leaves you with the very nervous thought that perhaps it might be
'blocked'. One has to be very careful when attending to the standing business
as there is very little quiet area down the side of the bowl at which to
aim. Also, when seated, one has to be very careful that one's
dangling bits do not become water logged. You'd wonder why they would
design a thing like this, a bowl which holds a ton of water has to vacate
all that water and the business through another choke hole. The toilet at
right is obviously from the Sahara, it has very little water down the
bottom and the smallest choke hole we've ever seen. A toilet like this
always comes with an accompanying brush - for obvious reasons.
The toilet (above left) was obviously
designed by someone who had a few idle hours to fill, someone who thought
he'd bung in a few extra facilities just for the heck of it. Not content
with having the flush water come in from around the rim of the bowl, this
one also shoots water in from that strange looking thing down the bottom
and sets up a swirl in the pan, then just when it looks like the whole
thing will overflow onto the floor, it sucks it all out like a big vacuum
cleaner. The one on the right is a classic, it requires great skill
and dexterity and a fine sense of balance on one's part in order to
complete the business successfully without toppling over backwards and
ending up in the business. Obviously designed by a person with masochist
tendencies, and best suited to the very young or the supremely fit, we found the only way to comfortably use this facility was to
take off one's belt, loop it, then hook one end of it over something in
front of you and hook the other end around your neck, plant your feet
firmly on the ground then lean back. We
definitely don't give this one the housewife's tic of approval.