A Pretty Penny...

In honor of Holiday Travel, this post is dedicated to that supremely annoying, no-frills Euro airline, Ryanair. Because if all goes according to their plan, soon one of the "frills" they won't have is a toilet on the airplane that you don't have to pay for. That's right. Ryanair is hoping to charge £1 or 1 Euro for passengers to use the washroom. That's because they want to knock out the two restrooms in the back to make room for either more seats or for "standing room only" areas on commuter flights.

If they even happen, these changes would not take place until 2012 at the earliest, according to a Guardian article this past July. First, of course, the company has to pass some pretty high safety standards - but that's all having to do with the standing room issue. No one seems to be investigating the "safety" of having but one on-board restroom for an entire plane full of people with nowhere else to go (so to speak), and on top of that, charging for them to use it.

According to Ryanair, the goal is to discourage passengers from using the toilet at all. They are expecting people to use the restrooms at the airport before and after, and therefore not on the plane itself. I suppose that, flying around Europe, that is almost a reasonable request. Your flights aren't going to be more than a couple of hours long. But I can tell you that, as a person with not the hugest bladder in the world, using the loo right before I get on the plane does not guarantee that I won't have to an hour or even a half hour later. Sorry guys! Which leads me to believe that the people inventing this crazy system are all men, with enormous bladders, who believe that women who can't "hold it" are somehow weak or incapacitated. Yeah, and some of those women might even be pregnant. Great. So now you want to charge us for having a slightly different organic set-up than you, and then tell us it's our fault. No thanks, Ryanair!

But it's not only women who object to this policy. Ben Dickson of the Random Perspective has written a clever article on the topic. And there's an entire Facebook page devoted to "Links on 'Don't pay to use a Ryanair toilet - piss in their seats for free.'"

My advice? Don't take Ryanair. At the end of the day, they're not any cheaper than most other airlines - sometimes more expensive. And my experience is that they are just generally obnoxious and a pain in the neck. If you want cheap, pleasant travel from here to there in Europe, fly Easyjet. At least they haven't forgotten that, while people do enjoy saving money, they also don't like to be treated like cattle. Cattle that can somehow hold their bladders indefinitely at will.

{Photo courtesy the Daily Mail}

CSI: San Francisco Bathroom

I had occasion recently to visit the bathroom at CSI: San Francisco (otherwise known as Congregation Sherith Israel). The synagogue's building was built in 1904, just before the big SF earthquake of '06. And it survived (whew!). In addition to a beautiful painted dome upstairs, with an organ and some lovely stained-glass work, they also have this nifty ladies' restroom on the ground floor.

As you can see, there is a whole powder room before you even get to the bathroom part of it. Above, you can see the make-up/touch-up area, with a big mirror, curlicue chairs, and bottles of lotion.


There is also a huge couch, a chair, full-length mirror, and fresh orchids. Not too shabby. The major bonus of this set-up, though, is the fact that, when the line gets long, you just wait in here, instead of standing around in the hallway.


In the next room, which is not as big, there are sinks, a stained-glass window, and a baby changing station, cleverly located near the heating unit, which is a good thing, because these big old buildings are hard to keep warm.

In the third section, there are toilet stalls. And the architects somehow managed to cram a significant amount of them into a fairly small space. So even though it's a little cramped, there's enough for everybody. And the doors are even on automatic springed hinges, so they stay open when they're not locked - no guessing or checking under the door to see if someone is in the stall.


I think the details in the whole bathroom are just lovely, like these charming and oh-so-unnecessary embroidered cases for the tissue boxes. Kind of makes you want to blow your nose and wipe that little tear forming at the corner of your eye because it's just so beautiful.

They also have a very nice "modern" bathroom in the building annex next door, but you know, I think this one just has so much charm. It reportedly has had its attention, back in the day. And, as I hear it, the men's loo is not nearly so special. In fact, given that, I think this one makes up for those tricked out men's rooms from the America's Best Restroom competition. No pool tables or shoe-shine stations here. I think the building designers knew where the priorities were when it came to restroom facilities. And I'm all about the powder rooms, so this is going down as one of *my* favorites.

Check it out if you're ever in the area!

Sign Me Up!

This week's post was submitted by Agent KGB in Boston. It's a post from Interbent that features "Humorous and Unclear Toilet Signs and Directions." Like the one above. The list reminds me of this one I saw in a bathroom in San Francisco early last spring.

There are also some Dada-ist looking signs, some highly suggestive, some alien-friendly, some, apparently, just for fun, and I really like the generic guy-on-toilet-seat-with-laptop - in a red circle with a slash mark through it, of course. And don't forget the Extreme Pizza bathroom for the "Extreme costumer only." So I'm guessing they only allow people who make or wear costumes in there...

Sausalito

Yesterday, Agent Dave and I made an excursion to Sausalito, CA, where we stopped at this restaurant for a lovely outdoor meal. Afterwards, I asked for the Ladies' room, expecting the usual in-the-back-of-the-restaurant deal. Not so much. The host guy told me to go "Up the stairs, and to the right." Well, these were the stairs:


And at the top of the stairs, was this fountain:


Evidently, the restaurant was connected with a hotel above. And the bathroom was very nice. As you can see:






I especially love the ceramic tile detailing and the different sized mirrors under an arch. The lighting made it pretty nice as well. A nice place to refresh after a long day of bike-riding!

Boston's Other Big Dig

We all know that Boston is the city that likes to spend exhorbitant amounts of time and money making it look like it's doing something to improve the city. Excuse me, I meant, create beautiful and advanced urban design. And public toilets are no exception.

Reportedly, Boston Mayor Tom Menino was inspired by San Francisco's public toilets when he visited back in 1997. Twelve years ago. And he planned to install 10 public toilets in Boston. So far they have six. And there's been a bit of a snafu with the seventh.

Installation began on that one in March 2008, in Boston's North End (not the South End). It has yet to open.

First, it was installed a few inches above sidewalk level. No good for wheelchairs. And, oops, sewage lines not where they are supposed to be, according to the map. And now, let's dig it up and add another pump. You know, standard, run-of-the-mill New England craziness.

More entertaining commentary can be read on the Bostonist. But I guess $300,000 isn't a whole lot more than was paid for any of Boston's other public toilets. And none of it was paid for by the city itself, but by Wall Decaux, an advertising company that pays for the facilities in exchange for the right to sell advertisements. Good deal, no? And you thought it was just a public service.

I'm thinking maybe Boston should look into the company that installed these toilets in Japan.

But what I love is that Boston has a director of Street Furniture. And that that includes toilets. But I am still wondering, who is going to use these public facilities? I pass by them in San Francisco all the time. And if I have to pee, that's exactly what I do - I pass by them. Because I am not above buying a cup of coffee so that I can use the loo if it means I have a reasonable chance at privacy. That, and the kiosks tend to smell pretty nasty when they are open. I guess people do use them. I am just not one of those people.

Thanks to Agent J in DC, for the Boston info.

Royal Throne

This, apparently, is a picture of the toilet system at the gatehouse of Basing House in the village of Old Basing, UK, where, reportedly, Queen Elizabeth I once placed her royal arse. Well, perhaps not in this spot exactly, but somewhere in the near vicinity.

To read more about Tina's visit to the house, go here.

I remember hearing about gong farmers, actually. When I was living in Ireland, a few years back, my family came for a visit and we went to an old Medieval castle somewhere - I know, they're everywhere. But I distinctly remember on the tour the part where the tour guide introduced us to the "Garderobe."

Now, this means exactly what it says in French, which is that it is basically a clothes closet. You could still see where they had the place to put poles for hanging clothes. But there was also a place for a wooden bench, with a chute in the stonework leading outside. That's because the garderobe also doubled as a loo.

The waste went down the chute, and it all collected in a big central cess pool, where the "gong farmer" would then stir the pot, so that all the lovely vapors would waft back up into the clothes closets in various places around the palace. The idea was that the ammonia in the vapors would keep the clothes "clean and fresh."

Mind you, these were also the days when bathing was considered bad hygiene because it might "take off your skin." Goodness. I like my nose. Am I ever glad I did not live in the Middle Ages.

In the Bathroom

This...is my bathroom. I thought I would introduce myself to you by way of the water closet, the loo, el baño. That space which is so personal, so private, and yet, where everything is revealed. I have the standard American white porcelain toilet, as you can see. I made a point of getting a nice, woven white shower curtain - tasteful, but not too much. Goes with the sort of beige wall color. There's a three-section medicine cabinet to the right, which you can't see (very exciting!). And we have a nice bird painting on the wall to the left, hidden behind the door. I recently replaced the shower head with a gentler one, which also happens to be a water-saving shower head. Yay, saving water! And the rug - funny story about the rug.

Looks like it matches the diamonds in the floor pattern, doesn't it? Well, it does match. The thing is, I went to Target, thinking I would buy a white rug, to match the shower curtain, only they didn't have any white ones with a texture that I liked. I got this color, thinking it was a lot lighter beige than it actually was. Only when I brought it home, did I realized that it matched the color in the floor EXACTLY. Kismet! Well, that's how it goes with toilets, I guess. You just have to channel their energy. Tap into your intuition. And you will never be without a sufficient and safe place to relieve yourself.

Well, so that's my bathroom at present. Pretty cosy. I like it. And I look forward to sharing with you stories of many more...