public loos - sit or crouch?

soon how are you sitting on someone else's wee unless they've peed all over the seat, in which case I'd skip the cubicle and go to the next one

If I'm desperate and the loo is revolting, I do sort of hover with my backside in the air. But it's actually difficult to wee that way, so now I'm thinking it's all the people who don't sit down properly, who leave wee on the seat!

Firstly I never use a PL if I can help it and secondly only ever a hoverwee!

Sorry Ashtree for misunderestimating you, of course I shouldn't have assumed any such thing. (But worth pointing out for the less well informed I hope )

I sit down. Human wee is about as sterile as you can get (unless you have a urine infection). There are less bugs in urine than in tap water! Therefore I don't worry at all.

Why don't people check the seat when they leave as well as when they go in? Makes it right for the next person. My MIL used to insist ,when we took her on holiday, that she should be the first in when I had two little girls hopping up and down. She was a croucher/ hoverer and I had to clear up. nearly thirty years ago and I'm still

At last, a really entertaining and instructive thread on Gransnet!

the difficult one is the toilet on a moving train
if you hover the train has a mind of its own while you think you are in the correct position
agree with the wipe down and sit unless it is really bad (then clench your knees and wait till you get home.

I had wondered how people managed to wee all over the seats and why some cubicles have bits of paper scattered over the floor. I honestly hadn't realised people hovered over the toilets and faffed about covering the seats. Well I never. How odd that some of these people can be so fastidious about this but can't be bothered to clear up the mess they're making!

No, you are right, Soutra, it is worth pointing out - wet wipes are a curse to the sewer system and really should carry a large-lettered warning on the packs NOT to flush them. Another major 'fatberg' contributor that a lot of people are unaware of is the very popular quilted toilet paper.
Our drains get blocked now and then because, according to the people that come out and clear them, the 'fall' in our pipework isn't steep enough, so the flow can be very slow. A massively expensive job to have them all relaid, so we are just very careful. It was the last fellow that came who warned us about the quilted paper, so we never buy it now.

Its not the idea of getting some kind of infection that worries me as this is highly unlikely but I really don't want to come into contact with someone else's excreta anyway - unless of course it was in the line of duty and then I had gloves and apron - mostly!

The comment regarding wee being sterile is perfectly correct. In my 20's I had major kidney surgery, following the op I had a urine drain directly into the kidney which exited my body from my side. When this was removed I was peeing out of my side for a while until the drain hole healed up (it was a large tube). I queried why this did't cause infection and was told that urine was sterile until it had been exposed to air for a while. (assuming no other infection of course)

I'm with MamaCaz and soontobe. Who wants to sit on dried pee, the seat might look clean but is it really. I often see women who don't even bother to wash their hands after going to the toilet as well, how disgusting. I don't like touching the door handle when leaving the toilets because of this.

I did wonder about quilted loo paper Ash Tree ( I don't buy it) but DH who has Ulcerative Colitis has expressed a preference for the Aloe Vera sort after the Movi Prep for his last colonoscopy so I do have that in one of the loos for his delectation.

pompa it might be sterile but I don't want to wallow on any ones pee but my own!

Now here is a sexist comment.

I don't like following after a man in the loos in a cafe, they invariably leave the seat up and it is all damp around the base of the loo.

When I was about 14 one of our biology teachers asked us to taste something that looked like salt. We all dipped our fingers into the small bowl and tasted. THEN he told us it was dried wee. That and how rabbits reproduce is the only thing I remember from biology.

I'm sure I've said this before but it is one of my claims to fame . I have crouched (cos that's the only option) to do rather more than a wee, whilst travelling at high speed, on a Bullet Train in Japan. I was desperate and all the western toilets were taken.

NanKate yuk, I don't like using unisex loos.

I'm intrigued. Do people hover over their loos at home as well in case they come into contact with family members' or guests' pee? Or at work? Or is it just strangers' pee that causes problems?

In some cultures, it's usual to stand on the toilet seat. Which explains how one of my colleagues once walked into the staff loo to find a huge turd sitting on the seat.

All pee for me Maggie. Of course all pee.
I am squirming at the number of people on here who are happy to sit on pee, and therefore have pee on them. Or worse. No thanks. Yuk.

If I am at all unsure about the look at home, I clean the seat first.
And I clean it after a guest has left, before I use the toilet.
I dont care how sterile pee is.

Have I had a urine infection inthe last 20 years? No.
Not sure the two are connected, but I am not prepared to put it to the test.

Stranger's pee in my case but now I know it's germ free I feel better about it. thanks Pompa and hildajennij. I'm sure the same doesn't apply to poo.

In public loos I try to press the flush using my elbow. I saw it on a TV programme and this cuts down on the risk of catching germs.

If you have or need or cannot manage to hover, at least take in sterile wipes before you sit.
Best to be on the safe side, and keep yourself clean if you ask me.

magpie I have an image of you wallowing in your own wee now...

If you wash your hands when you come out of the cubicle, how can it matter what bit of your body you use to press the flush....

I always wipe the loo seat with loo paper before sitting down. I believe Maureen Lipman's mother advised her on techniques for using public loos - it somehow involved hovering, holding on to the door so no-one else could come in and keeping your handbag off the floor.

In my last office job, there was a notice on the door saying

'If you sprinkle when you tinkle
Be a sweetie and wipe the seatie'

Loo was always spotless.