This.
No I do not want mixed loos Unfortunately they always lead to very much worse conditions for women.
This.
No I do not want mixed loos Unfortunately they always lead to very much worse conditions for women.
Embarrassingly, I agree with you!
If I were ever in the situation of having to provide a mixed loo, I would adopt the German approach with prominent notices asking men to sit down and point out that paper is free! Although, one is excused for thinking that such should not be necessary ![]()
Potato, potato…
That’s not been our experience, but it’s a common assertion (like the “All men are rapists” trope). Perhaps it’s connected to the type of establishment?
The worst loo Madame ever saw was the Ladies in a County Durham town (somewhere like Stanhope, but not Stanhope itself). It was so unspeakable that she wouldn’t tell me in detail what was on the floor, but it included discarded, used items which only women have need of.
Edit: I realised that I very rarely use mixed loos. Almost all of my experience is based on Gents.
So if the problem is in mixed loos, and men aren’t obviously the problem, what’s going on?
So, what we want is individual cubicles, each with a handbasin?
And better training for men.
Loos take up space and space costs money in commercial buildings, and if properly run costs in maintenance and cleaning too, but that looks a solution to me.
A lot of small cafes in the UK have room for only one toilet, it works fine for all, you just close and lock the door.
This is a recent ftrope, that men are especially dirty in the toilet. Having just left the world of work, cleanliness of staff toilets was an issue of tension there. It seems women were much dirtier than the men, possibly because they have to cope with more mess and waste than men do. The ladies loos were more often blocked, more complained about. The one mixed use toilet, used more by the women because it was large and had a handbasin, almost always seemed to need cleaning before it could be used.
It wasn’t what I expected but that’s how it seemed to be. Told to me by the woman who organised the cleaners and plumbers.
The worst toilets are those ones where you stand astride the tray or place your feet into special grooves and then do your business and a wave washes over the tray and the waste away down the hole. All right for those with good knees but not for the obese and wobbly. Against that I would rather find a bush or go between parked cars, done that a few times. I am teaching my grandson to always lift the seat before spraying and then not to flap it about so it all goes down the centre hole. I said that ladies and men of course when its necessary, don’t want to sit on pee and now he does it automatically and don’t even get me started on those filthy toilet mats!
I’ve gone to use a woman’s toilet and just walked straight back out, some are bloody disgusting, I’ve almost aqua planned in some ![]()
Is there a connection between MLP and dirty loos from this thread? LOL. Yes some women are filthy tykes and will flush anything they want rid of down the pan. I have a shelf next to the WC with a selection of plastic nappy sacks and a bin for the discarded waste. When my plumbing was broke recently and I could only use one toilet and then NO paper down it, I got used to putting the dirty paper in nappy sacks and out to the bin, no different to a baby’s dirty nappy as long as its tied up so the waste cannot waft or escape
We use the big aire at porte de Correze quite often. Not aware of any both sex toilets but have seen women using the men’s toilets when a big queue for the ladies’. I haven’t seen any problems with it.
Lots of autoroutes aires close one or t’other toilets for cleaning, and simply put up a sign for everyone to use the open one. Never seen an issue with it, so long as everyone is aware of it.
OK. Better training for all.
In shared spaces we need to all be better.
… …
Personally I would not object to see the end of small urinals for men.
Some of them have an auto flush that sprays one with water as one steps away. Disgusting. Cubicles for all.
…
I remember hearing a woman on a TV chat show complaining about having to use public toilets.
She said floors were often covered in toilet paper, and too often blocked.
Later she described covering the seat with lots of paper before sitting down.
Another guest asked if she always cleared up the paper she had spread around, and was sure all of that didn’t block the loo?
I joined here a bit ago but I’ve only just had the chance to really start reading and I have to say the threads here are quite something, meandering miles away from the subject title.
Really interesting reading though as an overview of the range of viewpoints from the expat/ immigrant community
Loads of the political threads break into rambling culture war to and fros when it’s a shame they can’t stay focused on the actual topic / question in the OP.
Tis the nature of the beast. Stick around long enough and you’ll find they eventually morph into recipes (or puns
)
- so in that spirit, my personal selfish worry outside of the wider calamity that a far right government would augur is that Le Pen removes the naturalisation/ family route for citizenship. I passed my B1 language exam but couldn’t get my dossier through in time before the increase to B2 took effect in January. Now I’m racing to try and meet this criteria before it gets stricter / removed.
Some polls are showing Le Pen would easily beat Mélenchon and she would have the backing of the wealthy and the media in that scenario, so then we’d be relying on another wishy washy neoliberal austerity Macron type as far as I’m aware (I’m not well informed on the conservative personalities) to go against Le Pen again (assuming there’s a second round) which is exactly what got us into this mess.
Feeling pessimistic at the moment…
another wishy washy neoliberal
“Wishy washy”? As opposed to? A dyed in the wool extremist of either wing?
Good grief, I wish we could have lots more vague politicians rather than dedicated zealots! ![]()
Re Le Penn v Melanchon, I recall someone saying that the left leaning parties will group together and make ‘a list’ and nominate one person for the presidential election - so that might not be Melenchon?
Re Le Penn v Melanchon, I recall someone saying that the left leaning parties will group together and make ‘a list’ and nominate one person for the presidential election - so that might not be Melenchon?
Let’s hope so - particularly since last time, Mélenchon broke the coalition up within months. He’s not good at uniting people.