Cycling UK Forum

I can't find my own photo, but the blurred sign on the outside of this PC says (or said) words to the effect no parking except for users of the toilets.

MikeF wrote:I can't find my own photo, but the blurred sign on the outside of this PC says (or said) words to the effect no parking except for users of the toilets.

Used to be standard practice

The toilets at the train station have been closed for a couple of months to be upgraded, the fee is to double
A sign directs one to toilets in nearby Shopping Heaven, where the toilets are closed too, a sign there directs one back to the toilets at the station

If one is travelling by train one may go on the journey of course, but the railcars on local services only have one toilet, if that is full or empty it may be locked

Reminds me of a trip on a train in the UK reported in the media. The customer carers have vouchers to distribute as compensation if the train is late
Once the toilet was faulty. Passengers received vouchers. For liquid refreshment

I have to pee several times a day at work, the toilet is a queer place, very brightly lit, no windows
There are three cabins and three single urinals where one may pee while bantering with ones chums, I always take a cabin, really don't want to pee with others
There are six stations but only one sink, in the pub/ic area of course for social control so one may check whether colleagues wash their hands
I really hate how some try to get at the basin ere one has finished, or hover, waiting and watching
A slightly unpleasant and embarrassing place, I feel
Glad I never went down the mines where it was custom to bath/shower with ones mates after a shift

I still remember school had communal showering. It even had one of those big baths but that never, ever got used. Every gym I've been a member of had communal showering / changing facilities, no booths at all.

It's funny how we're slightly squeamish about communal, bodily functions. I've been told that rural China has gender based, communal toileting in places consisting of a raised platform with low fences marking out individual toilet spaces of a hole in the platform. I can't remember if this was inside a building or outside but I seem to recall one was outside according to the person telling me this. Being a westerner in a part of China that was rarely visited apparently a few locals decided to go to the toilets at the same time like they were checking if the visitors were the same.

I thought toilets at railway stations were all free now?

Recently in Germany I went to a McDonald's and the toilets were 50 cents on a turnstile. I didn't have any change so limboed under it

robing wrote:I thought toilets at railway stations were all free now?

Recently in Germany I went to a McDonald's and the toilets were 50 cents on a turnstile. I didn't have any change so limboed under it

At my McDonald's in Germany there is a key code on your receipt
Have a google for 'nette Toilette', many cafes + restaurants in Germany offer free use of toilets
Doubtless in the hope people spend cash on food and drink too

Cyril Haearn wrote:Glad I never went down the mines where it was custom to bath/shower with ones mates after a shift

Try having a life at sea with a couple of hundred ship-mates.

Sleep in bunks only a few feet apart, shower together, urinals and cubicles cheek by jowl
Knowing everything about each other and seeing everything too.

Mick F wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:Glad I never went down the mines where it was custom to bath/shower with ones mates after a shift

Try having a life at sea with a couple of hundred ship-mates.

Sleep in bunks only a few feet apart, shower together, urinals and cubicles cheek by jowl
Knowing everything about each other and seeing everything too.

All laddies back then, no ladies?

I never had the pleasure of serving at sea with females. It was happening in ships, but not on any of mine. Last ship was Type 23 HMS Argyll, and as these class of ships went into refit, they were converted to take females. The latter of the class were build for it.

Separate loos and showers of course, as well as accommodation. All else was normal.

Did you have two bunks Mick F? One for sleeping in and one for all your collection of 'stuff'!!

On one ship, HMS Sirius, I had a big workshop/office as Charge Chief for the department.

We spent weeks on end at sea on patrol, going slow detecting Soviet submarines and following them. The ship would roll for days and nights on end and it was difficult to sleep. Bunks tend to be positioned fore/aft and rolling meant being rolled side to side in bed.

I was lucky to have my office. It was rectangular fore/aft and was long enough to sling a hammock. I took one from stores, and slung it most nights. The ship would roll port and starboard, and my hammock would remain still with the ship rolling about me. I slept like a baby whist everyone else in bunks rolled this way and that!

Mick F wrote:On one ship, HMS Sirius, I had a big workshop/office as Charge Chief for the department.

We spent weeks on end at sea on patrol, going slow detecting Soviet submarines and following them. The ship would roll for days and nights on end and it was difficult to sleep. Bunks tend to be positioned fore/aft and rolling meant being rolled side to side in bed.

I was lucky to have my office. It was rectangular fore/aft and was long enough to sling a hammock. I took one from stores, and slung it most nights. The ship would roll port and starboard, and my hammock would remain still with the ship rolling about me. I slept like a baby whist everyone else in bunks rolled this way and that!

Something to be said for the old ways then. Why are hammocks no longer used, I wonder?

That is a long and involved subject!

I'll try and be short.

In the old days, ships had more sailors per ship than they have nowadays. Even in my time, we reduced the manning levels, and by the time I was serving in my last ships, the reduced manning was down to a level where the cleaning and domestics was saved up until we came into port where contract cleaners would come on.

Since the demise of steam power and coal, we didn't need stokers and engine room staff 24/7. This, as well as automated machinery, meant that you didn't need engineers below working the propulsion system.

The weapon systems require few operators. Gun crews aren't needed as everything is automated. Computers control the early warning equipment and we don't need lookouts and upperdeck crews with binoculars 24/7.

All this, means far fewer than half the crew for a given size of ship. This means there is more space for accommodation and hence they can have cabins and bunks and a central galley and dining halls and recreation rooms.

Hammocks used to be slung in the messdecks. When the hammocks were stowed, the tables were laid for the meals. Same space, same room. No other place as there was no space.

Trying to get back on topic
What does the Grey Funnel Line do with human waste? Is it treated, or just pumped into the ocean?
Are modern ships more spacious and comfortable for inmates?