reflections

People who know me from Facebook will know that I have a thing about toilets. I firmly believe that we can learn a lot, anthropologically and sociologically speaking, from the behaviour of people in the act of going to the toilet, or being on the toilet. Or they could from me at any rate.

No matter how confident I might appear in front of a Board meeting, my inhibitions and deep-rooted social phobias come to the fore when I have to use a public toilet.

For example, what to do when the bowl in cubicle you're about to use is covered in shit. Do you use it, though it repulses you, or do you use another? And if you do use another, what if someone else comes in just as you are getting out? They've seen you emerge from the offending cubicle, and they might go in and assume you made that mess. Or what about that akward moment when you emerge at the same time as the guy (or gal, though I suspect going to the toilet in pairs is a more social thing for women than it is for men) in the cubicle next to you? Do you talk, do you ignore them? And if you do talk, what do you say? "Nice shit?". "Yes thanks, bit tough at the start, but the follow through was good". And so on.

Our toilet at home is pretty standard (we dont have cubicles), but the toilet at my parents house - where I now am - is like a bathroom showhouse: all clean and chrome. Sure, my mother doesn't have 4 kids to mop up after, but she does like to keep the place spotless.

So todays Blip sees me on the toilet, reflected in the chrome of the taps. Can you see me? What shall we talk about?