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Great Writing - Home > Non-Fiction > The Perils of Spending a Penny
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Non-Fiction
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| The Perils of Spending a Penny | |
| By Leo | ||||||||||
| 15 August 2006 | ||||||||||
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Whilst no one can write a piece of work with universal appeal, i suppose it is possible to try and write about something that has at least some relevance to a lot of people. Thomas Crapper, a Yorkshire man with an eye to earning a bob or two, knew he was onto something when he started branding and selling his own ‘sanitary specialities’. He might not have invented the flush toilet, but he certainly cleared up. He knew he was entering a growing market, that wouldn’t be open to the vagaries of taste and economic prosperity. The need to go to the toilet was never going to diminish. It has been estimated that the average person visits the toilet 2,500 times a year, and with a population of 60 million in the UK, so just do the maths!. Using the loo however, has never been without risk. Only two or three hundred years ago the poor were forced to share communal privies. Sometimes up to a hundred people shared a single one. Disease and bacteria thrived. After cholera outbreaks that killed literally thousands, the government responded to the problem. In 1848 it decreed that every new house should have a water closet or ash-pit privy. By 1865 they had also improved the public sewers, so the chance of dying from the noxious gases given off by the countless cesspits, that festered in every yard, was fast becoming a thing of the past. The first public toilets, known as 'halting stations', came into being around 150 years ago. They would have cost you a penny to use. Polite types spoke of ‘spending a penny’. Loo paper reached our shores in 1857. It was originally sold as an ‘under the counter’ item. This was presumably because it reminded the uptight Victorians that we had bodily functions. Amazing as it may seem toilets rolls, as we know them, didn’t go on sale in the shops until 1928. Back in Roman times, well to do citizens used ostrich feathers instead of communal sponges. It is entirely possible therefore, that in reality, Spartacus led the slave rebellion because he found the prospect of the soft, sensuous touch of the aforementioned feather so alluring!. Even though we now have a modern sewerage system, flush toilets and enough Andrex to go to the moon and back, we still need to be protected from ourselves. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) work hard to remind us that we must wash our hands after using the toilet to stave off the threat of infectious diseases. The two main routes to infection are faecal-oral transmission. Which often happens when someone (usually a man!) forgets to wash their hands after using the toilet and then touches food or drinks. The germs are transferred to others who touch those items later (usually the unsuspecting wife or child!). Many types of microbe that are transmitted this way, including salmonella, hepatitis A and giardiasis. Furthermore, contact with urine can also spread nasty microbes including staphylococcal organisms and typhoid! As we approach the 21st century we need to ensure the handwashing habit catches on. You should invest at least 20 seconds in washing your hands in hot water and soap. It’s the lather that traps the germs. So don’t just rinse your thumb and forefinger under cold water boys! And don’t forget between your fingers and under your nails when you scrub. In city and town centres, as the population density continues to increase, so does the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol seems to switch off the social responsibility centre in the brain and we are perfectly happy to use the street as a toilet. The uric acid passed by intoxicated revellers waiting for night buses in and around Trafalgar Square has actually begun to erode the stone walls that surround the National Gallery. In an effort to meet the need Westminster council have introduced telescopic toilets that rise out of the ground at night on hydraulic pistons. These were first seen in Amsterdam, where a 24-hour city catering to 24-hour needs has long been in existence. These provide somewhere for the less than bashful to ‘strain their spuds’ after an ale too many. The more modest ‘service user’ tends to seek out the privacy afforded by a purpose built public toilet. These unfortunately, especially late at night, tend to be frequented by all manner of criminals; thieves, drug addicts, robbers, sexual predators, homophobes and vandals. Councils have a ‘duty of care’ and need to protect toilet users from other, less than savoury, visitors. Crime figures confirm that tourists are major targets in central London toilets and the potential victim pool is swollen further by rough sleepers who just want somewhere to shelter from the cold and wet. So those who use these facilities need protection. That includes you and me. We need somewhere to spend a penny (more like 20p and as much as 50p in Westminster!) in peace, unmolested. A great deal of time and effort has been put into managing the wide and varied crime risks that we might face in the average public toilet. Control measures include: - Bag hooks on the back of doors, to prevent snatch thefts as bags and brief-cases are pulled out under the door as the unsuspecting victim perches perilously on the toilet, trying to avoid contact with the urine soaked seat - The removal of surfaces for drug preparation. A toilet cubicle provides the privacy required by drug users, intravenous ones especially. - The removal of hiding places. Habitual users on occasions store their ‘works’ in toilets that they use frequently to ‘shoot up’ in - The use of ultra violet lighting to make it harder for intravenous drug users to find veins - The installation of sharps boxes (to facilitate the safe disposal of discarded needles) - Cleansing teams to remove needles where sharps boxes don’t exist Use of fire proof materials to deny arsonists the tinder they crave - In some schools and colleges there are automated water-control systems that are used to shut down the water flow on command. This is because toilets are routinely used as ‘contraband disposal units’. That is to say offenders, flush items such as cigarettes, drugs or even weapons down the toilet as a method of disposing of evidence. - Sensor-operated taps are used to prevent malicious flooding. - CCTV cameras are in place to capture images of offender as they leave (you need only go to the toilets at Green Park tube station to see yourself on the screen as you walk in – honest!) - Attendants are also in place to ‘keep an eye’ (they act as what criminologists would call a ‘capable and motivated guardian’- A lot of criminals (though clearly not all!) are like little kids, you watch them and they behave, its when you’re not there that they become naughty) - Police patrols (Lets not forget that George Michael was only arrested in the Will Rogers park toilet after being spotted by an eager, eagle eyed (and open flied) officer of the local undercover crime suppression unit.) - Guidelines for 'vulnerable' toilet users (An advice plan for transsexuals and transvestites was recently officially endorsed by Metropolitan Police. The guidelines pioneered by Croydon's ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Police Focus Group’ give practical advice on how to avoid confrontation when using public toilets.) So next time you visit the humble public toilet and come out in one piece, give thanks to engineering innovations and the army of specialists who have worked hard to make it a safe, and enjoyable experience! And don’t forget to wash your hands properly!.
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