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The old country has gone to the dogs

The old country has gone to the dogs

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Old Jun 15th 2016, 7:50 pm
  #31  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Where I was the nearest McD was 15 or more miles away, and I have no idea where the nearest Starbucks was. Long way to go for a free wizz.
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Old Jun 15th 2016, 9:04 pm
  #32  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by lansbury
Where I was the nearest McD was 15 or more miles away, and I have no idea where the nearest Starbucks was. Long way to go for a free wizz.
No convenient hedgerows or bushes?
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Old Jun 16th 2016, 9:24 am
  #33  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

I believe there are special receptacles like they use in hospitals...
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Old Jun 16th 2016, 9:28 am
  #34  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by LondonSquirrel
I believe there are special receptacles like they use in hospitals...
Like these...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/travel-urin...ravel%20urinal
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Old Jun 16th 2016, 4:04 pm
  #35  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by lizzyq
No convenient hedgerows or bushes?
It nearly came to that yesterday. What was normally a one hour journey took over four hours due to the A1M being closed because of an accident. Fortunately a garden center with a coffee shop and facilities was in just the right place.

I only hope the person responsible for the accident had their testicals ripped off at the very least. Made me appreciate how easy Portland traffic is, even in the rush hour.
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Old Jun 16th 2016, 4:11 pm
  #36  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Joking aside, I'd much rather pay to have a clean loo than deal with a disgusting 'free' one. If my 20p is helping to pay for upkeep/maintenance, very good.


I remember the loos in pubs back in the 70s were atrocious.


I've encountered locks in Starbucks in the US, having to get the key from the counter. Don't mind that, just not sure I like holding the key, nor handing it back to the person about to serve me drinks!
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Old Jun 16th 2016, 4:30 pm
  #37  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by Steerpike
Joking aside, I'd much rather pay to have a clean loo than deal with a disgusting 'free' one. If my 20p is helping to pay for upkeep/maintenance, very good.


I remember the loos in pubs back in the 70s were atrocious.


I've encountered locks in Starbucks in the US, having to get the key from the counter. Don't mind that, just not sure I like holding the key, nor handing it back to the person about to serve me drinks!
The key is only part of it. There's the flush handle and the door knob. Scary places. This where my OCD runs riot.
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Old Jun 17th 2016, 9:04 am
  #38  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by Steerpike
Joking aside, I'd much rather pay to have a clean loo than deal with a disgusting 'free' one. If my 20p is helping to pay for upkeep/maintenance, very good.
I agree with that and the pay ones where in fact very clean. Just would have been useful to know in advance paying was now quite common and I would have had some change in my pocket. Especially as the first one only took 20p coins.
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Old Jun 17th 2016, 9:19 am
  #39  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by lansbury
I agree with that and the pay ones where in fact very clean. Just would have been useful to know in advance paying was now quite common and I would have had some change in my pocket. Especially as the first one only took 20p coins.
I remember visiting Ensenada Mexico for a few days in 1973, I would have gladly paid a dollar downtown. The options were....not what yanks were used to.
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Old Jun 18th 2016, 4:37 pm
  #40  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by Beaverstate
I remember visiting Ensenada Mexico for a few days in 1973, I would have gladly paid a dollar downtown. The options were....not what yanks were used to.
Italy in the 90s was also a bit of a shock - 'squat' toilets reminiscent of what I saw in Asia!
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Old Jun 18th 2016, 4:58 pm
  #41  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by Steerpike
Italy in the 90s was also a bit of a shock - 'squat' toilets reminiscent of what I saw in Asia!
One of my abiding memories of France in the old days is of the squat-flush public toilets, and having to time one's leap for the doorway to coincide with pulling the chain. Half a second late with the leap and you ended up with shoes full of water; too early and you couldn't reach the chain!

My experience of public bogs in Asia has been limited to backpacking in the Middle East in the '60s with my now-wife. A hole in the middle of a concrete box of a room with clear evidence of the appalling inaccuracy of those who'd gone before. And a water-tap at the side that we never even dreamed of touching.
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Old Jun 19th 2016, 1:06 am
  #42  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Still had one of those holes in the floor in that famous square in Marrakech a few years ago (sorry can say it but not spell it!) Haven't seen those in France since the 80s!
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Old Jun 19th 2016, 1:42 am
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

Originally Posted by LondonSquirrel
Still had one of those holes in the floor in that famous square in Marrakech a few years ago (sorry can say it but not spell it!) Haven't seen those in France since the 80s!
Hey, Squirrel. Not wanting to get into the politics of it, but it's obvious that the bureaucrats and politicians who have been advocating open borders for residents of Arab slums haven't got a clue what they've let their fellow countrymen in for. I was told once - and it makes sense - that even relatively sophisticated Arabs were disgusted with their first experience of western toilets. Not only were the damn things awkward to squat on, having to clean their bottoms with the same water they'd just crapped in was utterly revolting. Indeed...
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Old Jun 19th 2016, 1:51 am
  #44  
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Old Jun 19th 2016, 9:35 am
  #45  
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Default Re: The old country has gone to the dogs

If you put the toilet paper down the loo in my sister's houses in both Corfu and Athens you'd have to be the one to unblock it.
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