A campaign is being launched to raise awareness of the crippling impact of toilet phobia.
The National Phobics Society estimates at least four million Britons are affected - but the true number could be many more.
Toilet phobia can simply be manifest as a mild distaste for public loos. But some people develop such an intense obsession that they are left housebound, and may refuse to undergo potentially life-saving medical examinations.
The first piece of advice I would give to such people: at all costs, avoid holidaying in France.
"It was a 7 step programme. Step 1 was opening the cublicle door. Now let me tell you all about steps 6 and 7..."
ReplyDeleteCan I tell a detailed story about French ... um ... "plumbing", I suppose, although the story is more about the absence of anything worthy of the name?
ReplyDeleteIn this regard, at least, the French and the Japanese are diametrically opposed.
ReplyDeleteJapanese sidewalks are also conspicuously devoid of doggy effluvea.
Again, diametrically opposed to the French.
David:
ReplyDeletePlease do. I love stories about toilets and so forth.
Well, I suppose I've already told the nut of it.
ReplyDeleteA romantic trip to Paris, a day spent wandering around Ile de Cite, admiring Notre Dame, browsing through the quaint streets, ending up at Saint-Chapelle, a jewel of a church located (oddly) within the Palais du Justice, and then lucking into an old brasserie for lunch. Obviously, all that and a meal move a man but all movement comes to a sudden stop when, after descending a long narrow stair case where one also descends a decade per stair, one is confronted with the proverbial hole in the ground and proof that Frenchmen can't aim. It takes a lot of stained glass to counter-balance that sight.
I don't believe any country can claim to be part of the 'developed' world if it has even a single one of those 'hole in the ground' jobs within its borders.
ReplyDeleteItaly has them too, and as the descendants of the Romans they really have no excuse for such barbarism.