There are lots of things in life we all avoid for various reasons. Those I avoid include post-Christmas sales, caravan parks, rubbish tips, garage sales (unless it’s mine), buck’s nights and fancy dress parties.
There is one thing I try to avoid more than anything else – public toilets.
I loathe and detest them with a passion. Without getting into graphic detail, I can’t stomach them. Everything about them repulses me.
Even as a kid, I would hang on until I got home, rather than go public. I am not a cleanliness freak or a germaphobe (in the strictest, obsessive sense), but if and when I do have to use a public facility, the combination of cleanliness, germs and privacy collide like a freeway pile up. I can’t remember one particularly bad experience that has cemented this in my brain, but it certainly is real.
What little contact I do have with public amenities these days does nothing to alter my mindset. I understand that places such as sports complexes, train stations and shopping centres face an enormous challenge due to the sheer volume of people using their facilities. I don’t blame them for the state of the surroundings.
Some people are filthy pigs who just don’t care. How they can walk out of a toilet and leave it the way they do just appalls and amazes me. Goodness knows what their houses must look like.
I know this is not the most savoury of topics for my column, but it can no longer be the elephant in the room.
It is, after all, a room we all need to use (yes even me) at some stage, so how about some “do unto others” thinking?
Make an effort, or at least alert the relevant person there is a problem so they can do something.
Modern technology can only do so much to provide an environment that allows for a hygienic experience when nature calls.
I would like to think we have come a long way from my youth, when we had the outhouse, the pile of sawdust and the weekly visit from the night carter. We have, haven’t we?
If you have any news or events, let me know at kevin@howdypartnersmedia. com.au
