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[getting_old]

Reading the poo thread made me realise that I'm not the only person who views public loos as somewhere terrifying. I always thought I was the only person who would only use a public loo if I was desperate, would worry about what / who I was going to encounter, and would try to get in / out as quickly as possible.
Other users always seemed so blase about the situation that it made me feel like a freak. I mean other people would chat whilst doing the deed, and of course I can never forget the nightclub where I was asked why I wasn't accompanying an acquaintance into a cubicle 
I'm fairly sure some of my fear stems from the rather unpleasant state of our local public loos when I was growing up! Then there's the fact that I don't want people to know about my stomach problems because I'm embarrassed by them. I'm generally quite a private person so don't like to share stuff!

Anyone else?

[getting_old]

Oh, forgot to mention my horror using an American loo for the first time because they have large gaps around the doors 
or a French loo / hole in the ground 

[Barnacle]

I would rather bob behind a bush, than use a public loo. Hate them! I have to use the service station loos when we are on a long car journey, but i certainly don't hang around.

[Mogster71]

I'm not fond, but sometimes desperation takes over! They always seem to stink, and if there's a cubicle free when I'm desperate in a queue, it'll be the one where someone has "deposited" and exited pretty sharpish lol!

Um....it wasnt me!!

I do get stage fright as well, if I know someone is waiting I cannot pee. Same with producing a sample 

[Sparrow]

I had to explain to my astonished husband that I had never sat on a public loo seat.

[CLKD]

There are more germs on our keyboards 

Stage fright!  Love it!   It's the way we are raised.  My Gran had a vault brick shed 'over the yard'.  Some had 3 seats in 

Many years ago we had to travel the A5 from N Wales to the Fens and I knew every lay-by  .  1 evening I had bopped down and a large lorry pulled in behind us, headlight blazing.  Everyone on the A5 going North would have seen me ........... 

One has to look out for nettles!  Or where someone else has been ..........

It's a common question for those climbing Everest or on the Round the World aching races .......... always curious about how, where and when.  On the 1 Show they were discussing a race across and Ice shelf and the Dr explained that no way were they to go outside the tents to pee but to keep the bottle/sheewe in the sleeping bag with them!  It would freeze the brass balls etc..

DH and I don't share bathroom habits.  He's very private.  I hate using the loos/showers on a camp site  however empty the site might be, someone will ALWAYS follow me in 

[CLKD]

Oh now I've got a server warning - can't post 

[Two hoots]

Oh, forgot to mention my horror using an American loo for the first time because they have large gaps around the doors 
or a French loo / hole in the ground 

I love the gaps under the doors, I hate the completely enclosed, I have a fear if being trapped. When I go to a loo when I'm out I always tell my husband "if I'm not back in 5 minutes come and find me" 

I encountered a hole in the ground in Italy, I suddenly discovered I could wait 

[Sparrow]

I'm the same as you.  At least with a gap I know I can crawl out.  A lock not opening fills me with terror.

[Pennyfarthing]

I could write a book about public toilets!  Firstly, I am claustrophobic and have twice been locked in public toilets.  Once in Menorca at the back of a cafe.  Most toilets abroad have a light switch outside the actual toilet. Often it's in the washbasin area.  A woman was washing her hands at the sink.  I went into the toilet and sat down and a few seconds later she must have switched the light off and left.  It was completely BLACK.  No window, no gap under the door, nothing.  I felt around to find the door handle but couldn't locate it.  I tried again and again and panic set in. I hammered on the door and shouted but nobody came.  Eventually a member of staff heard my shouts and put the light on and I was able to get out.  My husband and daughter said ?we thought you were a long time.?  I was a shaking wreck and insisted we left straight away.

Second time my Mum and I were using a public loo at the seaside. I went in, locked the door and couldn't get out.  The ancient door must have swollen and the door knob was one of those very old round ones not much bigger than a 50p with a raised bar in the middle so nothing to grab really.  I shouted for my Mum and even though she was nearly 90 she kicked the door. A woman came in and said ?what ARE you doing??  It took two of them to push the door in.  nervous wreck again!   I phoned the council and complained and they agreed they were unsafe and put a grab handle on the inside of the doors so at least you could pull it towards yourself.

So now if I use a public toilet I always check what kind of lock it has and if I am not happy I don't  lock it and hang a homemade ?Engaged? sign on the outside. 

My final point is why are we so bad at keeping toilets clean in this country?  We go to Spain and the Canaries a lot and the toilets are spotless.  They clean them thoroughly right up to the floor edges whereas in this country they flick over them and there's usually a few inches at the edge where they miss.  Same with the sinks.  In Croatia, Portugal and Malta we have had female toilet attendants who go in as soon as you leave, wet mop the floor, wipe the seat and replenish the toilet paper.  That's how it should be everywhere!

[Dierdre]

I remember when we were kids and used to go on holiday, before caravans had toilets. We'd go to the toilet block carrying toilet roll and a newspaper, the newspaper was not to read but to put on the seat as we were not allowed to sit on it!  We always had printing ink on our bottoms most of the holiday 

[Two hoots]

Oooooh locked in twice  PF, I think I'd take someone in to stand guard instead of trusting a lock again.

If you ever visit the Wales millennium centre in Cardiff and your the slightest claustrophobic, please go before you get there, the doors are floor to ceiling high and not a mm space top, bottom or sides 

[Dierdre]

Same here, either the sea or a strip wash in a bowl  There was always big spiders  and cobwebs you had to keep an eye on too.

[dahliagirl]

*In Croatia, Portugal and Malta we have had female toilet attendants who go in as soon as you leave, wet mop the floor, wipe the seat and replenish the toilet paper.*

In Italy I had to pay a euro to use toilets with two attendants (male and female) who wet mopped the floor and also the toilet seat before you could use it.  They did have lace curtains though.  I remember this happening in public toilets in Newcastle, but it was stopped because it spread more germs than it saved you from.  And the seat was disgustingly wet.  Only place I ever hovered.

[Sparrow]

In some southern European countries you cannot put loo paper into the toilet but have to put in a bin.  However, when women from those countries come here they think it's the same.  Many a time I've been in loos, particularly in London museums,  where they have tried to stuff the loo paper in the sanitary bin.  This results in soiled paper over the top of the bins and all over the floor.  Not very at all.