Just a couple of updates on the toilet front..

Firstly, this update comes from a whiny pommish tourist, currently living in Australia:

Thanks for making me laugh this morning, your toilet piece had me in

stiches. Though it must be noted that the toilet in my house often

requires multiple flushes, im not sure of the make and model of the

throne, I try not to look at it too closely!

And before you ask, yes I am pressing the full flush button. I never use

the half flush button on aussie toilets - it isnt even effective at

clearing urine (you can always tell when the previous occupant has only

pressed half........

And yes, you should go abroad as i have told you on many an occasion. If

its toilets your after I recommend you go to germany, possibly the most

interesting design, or france if the putrid hole in the floor type is more

your thing - i have been known to use the sink to avoid a french toilet.

Many older european train toilets are interesting, you look down the hole

and you can see the track... Sadly due to health regulations this is

becoming a thing of the past and airline style toilets seem to be the

thing on modern trains. We never had this in my lifetime in the uk, our

trains have had tanks since the 60's :-(

American toilets, it must be said do seem to be the most satisfying, both

in terms of performance and sound. Pertiually memorable ones were in the

Pensylvania Hotel, just across the road from Penn Station. I dare say big

people create big depsits and therefore the toilets need to be designed to

cope with this.....

I believe the German toilet referred to is the fantastic German Poo-Shelf Toilet:

The Poo-Shelf comes from a period in German history when Germans were less interested in world domination and apparently more interested in spending quality time with their feces. That, or they were prone to accidentally eating their wedding rings and needed a toilet that allowed them to conveniently rummage through their dung before dispatching it to the abyss. Those must have been fascinating times and I'm quite glad I wasn't born in them.

Go read some of the comments on that last post, they're quite scary..