People who know me well, and especially those who were with me during my first trip to Stratford in years come by, know my pet peeve about England. It's the toilets.
It's not the toilets themselves, mind, but in particular the doors on public lavatories in this country. I'm at a complete loss to know why, but in England, somehow, the doors of public toilets always open inward. This would not be a problem, of course, except for the fact that they take the phrase 'smallest room' just a tad too seriously as well.
Imagine: you are bursting for a pee, and rushing into the ladies room (after having waited in an immense cue for ages... but that's another blog entry, I think), you finally bang open the door. That's literally banging it open, because it smashes straight into the loo. You then have to proceed to squeeze yourself into the tiny area between the toilet and the wall in order to close the door again. Sadly, that also seems to be the exact spot where they put the bin, making your chances of closing the door even smaller.
Honestly, I've been in cubicles where I've had to stand on the toiletseat in order to close the door. Can you imagine what that's like while your bladder is about to burst? Not to mention that you've got to do the same thing in reverse in order to get out. I've had people ask me whether I'd been attacked after coming out of the toilet.
Strangely, I've been in lots of toilet cubicles that were tinier in Amsterdam, but as the doors open outward, it's never been a problem there.
Isn't it interesting how cultures differ...
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Oh yes I remember...
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did you survive in Thailand btw?!
I really don't recall that toilet doors open inwards in Thailand... But then again, it's been years since I was there.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken, though, I did occasionally have a different problem there: no door at all. At least I didn't have to squeeze myself between the toiletbowl and the wall!