...to be slightly amused by MN's current obsession with toilets?

[PatriciaHolm]

lighthearted, clearly...

But on a number of threads over the last few days, usually about people asking about being able to go out more/drive a bit further etc - about 50% of replies seem be barely controlled panic about "but where will you wee?"/"but there are no toilets!". We (no pun intended ;-)) seem to have an obsession with public facilities ;-)

Maybe it's the predominance of woman of a certain age ;-), or recent mothers!

I definitely need to know where the nearest toilet is at most times with two kids in tow.

^This. Definitely this when my two were smaller!

If you have young dc, toilets when out are pretty important as they tend to want the toilet a LOT

So yes driving to a beach, planning to spend hours with a picnic, with public toilets closed wouldn’t be ideal

When you’ve got dc you have to think about this stuff 🤷🏻‍♀️

That makes sense @MarieQueenofScots. It's the change of lockdown restrictions.

Mumsnet has ALWAYS been obsessed with toilets. Here are themes which come up regularly when there isn't a pandemic:

• "AIBU about not wanting workmen to use my toilet?" The replies are usually that they should go to Maccy D's. Not possible now!
• The rights and wrongs of loo brushes.
• En suites are grim.
• I will never poo in any toilet but my own, and nobody ever shits in that toilet but me.
• Nobody should ever poo in the upstairs loo.
• Peeing in the shower.
• Outmoded names for the toilet, such as "lavatory", "water closet", etc.
• Young boys using the ladies' toilet, and vice versa.
• How to cure constipation.
• Third spaces.

In a few months' time, when the Mumsnet moans of "I miss lockdown, I wish it could have gone on for ever!" have died down, the toilet threads will be back.

As the Baron von Richtoven said in Blackadder Goes Forth: "How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing! For us Germans, it is a mundane and functional item. For you, it is the basis of an entire culture!"

No one pisses in the woods on mumsnet.

I positively enjoy an alfresco wee, which possibly makes me a bit strange. When I was younger, I probably peed in most of the lay-bys (?sp) on the A303 on trips to Devon and Cornwall. There were fewer service stations in my youth and they didn't tend to have lavatories or stay open 24/7.

It's not so bad if you're on the road and have a 4-door car. You can go on the nearside and open both doors to give you a bit of privacy. My mate and I had to stop for a roadside piss in a lane off the A35 not so long ago, and she was impressed by how well this screens you from public view. I also had to do this on the M25, but in the middle of the carriageway, when traffic was stationary for over 4 hours because of a lorry fire, and there was no cover at the roadside.

At 64, the days when I could go 8 hours without a wee are long gone!

@Stinkycatbreath - weeing in bushes is fine when wild camping and hiking. It's not fine in a residential area which has a popular beach. And clearly you've never been on a day trip with a young (but toilet trained) child. They need a poo at the most inconvenient moments.

That's fine if there are public toilets or even a pub that you can run to. But with nothing open, what are you going to do?

It is something that has crossed my mind. We were meant to be going on holiday in July, obviously cancelled now, but we were thinking of going to stay with family instead, if its allowed by then. Thing is, they are a 4 hour drive away, sometimes more with traffic, and we always end up stopping at least once for the toilet and sometimes for something to eat, but I don't know how we will work it if all the usual places we would stop are closed.

Toilet obsession is a pleasant distraction from the mumsnet 'facts' that 84% of all adults are 'narcissists', 93% of all the children in the UK are either SEN or ASD, and that every single problem in every relationship ever is entirely due to men and the patriarchy, and there isn't a single man on the planet with so much as a slightly unhinged female ex-partner.

Oh, add 'men don't leave relationships without another woman to go to' to the list of mumsnet perceived 'wisdom'.

XD Plus everyone over 60 yo who may have been in a slightly cranky mood clearly has dementia and all stepmothers are completely in the wrong, regardless of what they do.

SheWee - life saving if you are caught in the wild - not too ladylike though!

I often go on long walks and pee behind a tree or some bushes. DH stands on lookout and tells me if the coast is clear

It’s normal now, but took practice not to pee all over my boots

If someone would see me I’d just hope they’d pretend they didn’t

I absolutely love hiking, and long long walks. I'm a dog walker and when not in lockdown I walk miles every day in beautiful countryside away from it all. I'm
Quite accustomed to a wild wee and would take one over a dirty public toilet every time.

I'm lucky that I'm a regular morning pooer so don't have to think about that!

@peoplepleaser1 I have discovered a love of walking ! I did ten miles the other day and felt proud of myself !

it is a necessity though. Women used to only be able to go out for limited distances due to the lack of toilet facilities in Victorian times. There’s a name for it that escapes me.

SheWee - life saving if you are caught in the wild grin - not too ladylike though!
Sheewees are brilliant. Id recommend a practice at home in the shower first though, mistakes were made when I first used mine 😐

My kids have pissed in empty Tupperware, yoghurt pots and bottles and pooed in a plastic bag is that not the same for everyone?!

@Booboodisney fantastic, I'm
So glad you enjoyed your walk

I do many a wild wee points to username I'd never leave the house otherwise!

@HighlandYak - well... I practiced in a tent first. My (then) DP got one for me - who said chivalry was dead?
The Brit traditions I am eager to embrace!

@JayAlfredPrufrock it's interesting that it causes an issue the women and not the men. Obviously the different ways we wee make it more difficult but still it's yet another way women are less free and more constrained than men.

I don't let it trouble me.

Right- I may get a shee wee!

What do I do with it afterwards though?

You know what's hilarious: the first week or so of lockdown, a poster wrote an OP that she was a lone parent with two unwell children when a delivery person chapped the door and asked to use her only loo, which was upstairs. She told him no. She got utterly fucking pilloried. Roasted! Be kind and I'd let him in and poor bloke. Hardly a single shaming or PA post about how you are not supposed to allow non-members of your house in for any reason unless they're there to provide medical care or emergency repair work. But we're all supposed to let all and sundry in use the shitter.

So hey, problem solved! Toilets not open, just chap someone's door, be kind, they'll let you in.

I used to happily do a country. But I’m old and crippled now so can’t. Men can piss anywhere. Much harder for women. And I speak as someone who was a teenager in the age of jumpsuits.