Toilet Talk

Nice toilets make my day! We were out today in the seaside town of Portrush. I went to the loo in a cafe and they were spotless. My daughter asked to use the loo in a store and was told the toilets were for staff but they'd make an exception. However someone had to go with her. She was accompanied by a young man. "You're not going to stand outside and listen, are you?" my daughter asked. He assured her he wouldn't!

What’s wrong with ‘Ladies’ and ‘Gents’? If trans people need a public loo they just have to realise that they are in the minority and must use the facilities available as they believe they are, M or F. I am fed up with minorities expecting everything to change to suit them.

I once had to use a hole in the floor loo on a rocking train! Not an experience to be repeated! However good your squatting technique and your aim the movement of the train ensured most of it went on/in your shoes!! .

Just to inform you - 26 transgender people were murdered in USA last year and so far this year 12 transgender people. So I think the fact you get embarrassed about if a "man" is peeing next door to you rather pales in comparison. So to give them an individual toilet cubicle without fear or harassment is rather worthwhile. By all means take some wipes with you and how much effort does it take to put the toilet seat down. I do it in whatever toilet I use.

I don't want anyone to be murdered, neither do I want men pretending to be transgender using facilities which have traditionally been single sex .There are instances of men who have committed sexual offences deciding that they are transgender, being sent to women only prisons and then sexually assaulting women in those institutions. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that self identifying is an open door for some men to behave appallingly.
I also think that there are some women from certain religions/ethnic backgrounds who just would not use a lavatory if there were men around who were not relatives. What about their rights?
Sorry, but if I want to use a public lavatory/ changing room or other space where I have traditionally felt safe then I don't want that safety compromised.
Neither do I want to clean public lavatories because a man has been in them. I do enough of that at home.

People having been murdered which is extremely sad- doesn't mean its ok to have men peeing next door! You don't fix one problem by creating another.

Minorities have rights but often it seems minority rights are more important than majority rights. They arent.

A little hint. If I am visiting a town or village I look for the local doctors practice and use the loo.

I once dropped my prescription sunglasses down the toilet (hole in ground) at the Chateau in Angers on holiday. I had no option but to fish them out. Horrible!

I once read that if you go out for a meal, first of all go to the loo. If the loos are clean then it's OK to eat there (in the food area, not the loos ). If the loos are dirty, go elsewhere.

Irrespective of our feelings about using mixed gender toilets, the point being made here is that while indulgent people in the West are fretting about self ID and taking offence easily where none is intended, there are small girls being raped and murdered in India. As there are no toilets in the schools, these children are easy prey when they go into the woods to do what they need to do. I do wish that more of those high profile, easily offended look-at-me self ID people spent more time worrying about these children instead of huffing about their right to lurk in the changing room at Primark.

Indeed GillT57 small problem.

I don’t have a problem with public loos....I always carry wet wipes and use one on the seat first . Today I went to Central Milton Keynes to so some shopping with my friends . We used two of the facilities while there, and both were absolutely spotless . I have never seen such clean loos in years. And it was crowded...with kids , babies , and scattered women. Not a drop of water on any floor...nor loo paper...no litter. Absolutely spotless and sweet smelling...and I might add that the larger facility had fifty stalls about 15 sinks.. full soap dispensers...and a drier over every three sinks. Wonderful experience. Well done CMK.

MRGUDER rather a silly defence to say that some transgender people have been murdered in the USA, tragic though each case is. If you applied that as a yardstick you wouldn't send your child to school there as dozens are murdered each year by gunmen. Transgender people have their rights, but so do I, and I have the right to not find some hairy bloke in a frock when I go into the ladies and my DD has the right to be able to try on clothes, with her friends in a shop changing room without a self ID 'woman' sitting watching.

In France about five years ago we had lunch in an enormous and very packed restaurant on a mountain when we were skiing. I tramped off to the loo only to find that the single cubicle was the other side of a room full of urinals. No other facilities and no hope of nipping behind a bush in full ski gear in a foot or two of snow. The ladies were all queing for the cubicle in a diagonal line right across the middle of the urinals area. Men were constantly tramping in and out and doing what they came to do. I stood in the queue for what seemed like aeons of time trying not to look to either left or right. We didnt eat at that restaurant again for the entire holiday.

SunnySusie...Aargh!

I hate public toilets and will try to avoid. I also think women's toilets are as bad as men's. My work toilets stink at times and it makes me mad!! Just no need! Then you get the odd time you're in there trying to be discreet and you hear moans and groans from the cubicle next door as someone tries to squeeze a turd out! Like watf?! I'm saying this in rage as i have overheard it at work toilets a few times! I personally would say I was ill and go home for a crap before letting anyone hear me like that!

The worst though are the portaloos at any outdoor event! They make my blood boil, the state they are left in and still people go in and use them! Both male and female. One concert I was at the soggy toilet paper was above the loo seat itself with urine all over the floor and still folk went in and used them as they were bursting ?

I'd rather be caught peeing behind a tree than use some public toilets!

Sorry but a loo is a loo. If I need a loo I'll use whatever is available. First world problem!

Zanzibar airport leaves a lot to be desired. The signs look okay, but lead to portaloos, unisex, with no instructions inside, and it appeared that the past three people before me (at least) hadn't been able to find the flush button which was a black rubber one set into the black rubber floor. The floor itself was awash with wee and goodness knows what else, and the smell enough to make you vomit.

In the Kibera slum in Nairobi I was shown to the school's loo, hole in the floor, just concrete, no china but very clean, and was absolutely mortified that the headmistress waited outside for me to finish and then went in with a bucket of water to flush everything away.

Try suffering from diverticular disease, you can't afford to be choosy, a loo is a loo and I'm just grateful to find one. I use a disabled loo (I'm a wheelchair user) so majority are unisex but they're individual cubicles, usually with walls that go all the way from floor to ceiling with handbasin in the cubicle so I do feel safe in them. However, many of them are very dirty, (I've taken to complimenting restaurant owners who have nice clean toilets for use by disabled people) , and very few have mirrors, my only conclusion is that it's assumed disabled people don't brush their hair or wear lipstick, no matter what gender they are. So provided individual cubicles with full facilities were provided I have no problem with shared toilets, what I wouldn't like is shared toilets with cubicle walls you can peer over or under and communal area wash hand basins. Sanitary bins should be provided in all the individual cubicles. If done this way there would be no problem and less likelihood of the sexual assault many women, and some men, fear.

Totally agree with you ILE35, I have been known on many occasions to have ‘left something at home’ when I have been at work so I can go and use the comfort of my own loo rather than using the disgusting 1 at work. Thank goodness I only live a 15 minute drive away!!!!!

I stood for ages outside the 'accessible toilet' in my local supermarket yesterday. After what seemed like 'a lifetime' (because I was desperate), a rather unkempt man emerged from it and he scurried away.

I was horrified when I went in there - he'd left it in a right mess. Seat was wet and floor was wet AND dirty from the soles of his shoes.

I had to grab some toilet paper to clean the seat before I could use the toilet - and then try to balance with my feet four feet apart to avoid the wet floor ............................... thank goodness for the handrail to support me.

I had to stop two young women with children and babies from trying to take their children in there as I came out - hope they didn't think that I'd made the mess :-(.

I went straight down to Customer Services to ask for a cleaner to go in there to sort it out.

GillT57 Couldn’t agree with you more !

Oh dear! So many anxieties about public loos! As long as there is water / soap to wash with, loo roll to wipe with and the toilets are not totally mucky what is the problem? What delicate flowers. I must be a real mucky pup!

My mother did this whole thing with placing bits of the toilet roll all round the seat when she took me into a public toilet as a child. Never got to the bottom of why, pardon the pun

Our swimming pool has a family changing room that is helpful if you are a parent or grandparent with a child of the opposite sex and don’t feel ok with them being alone in the changing rooms. I sometimes take my DGS swimming, and he is only 9, so I don’t like him going into the men’s changing area on his own and obviously can’t go into it with him, but also know that some women aren’t comfortable with boys (even children) in the girls changing areas, so a family changing area is ideal.
As for loos I also don’t use public lavatories If I can avoid them as they are often disgusting!
I carry anti vac gel and wash my hands but still it’s not great to find unflushed loos or stuff on the floor!
I have noticed a trend for public lavatories now to be individual unisex rooms with the loo and wash basin inside and a lockable door this is a much better idea in my opinion.

Public loos are bad enough without them being mixed sex, so many men make a mess and don’t wash their hands (according to my very particular partner)

Hover, hover, hover