to wonder where all the beach revellers are toileting?

[fiveforty]

I think I'd rather stay at home

The toilets here on our seafront have reopened. People were queuing and keeping to the 2m distance which is good but it was a 'one in one out' system so they'd all be touching the flush, the taps , the handles etc.

I guess lots of people are use to going to beaches without toilets anyway and make do.
I went to the beach yesterday but it's only about 25mins from my house so we just stayed for an hour and a half and then headed home.
For those that are driving for hours where do they go to the loo en route? I have to travel to a funeral next week and I'm really worried about that. It will be about 4-5 hours either way and obviously because of Coronavirus I can't stay anywhere so will be doing it all in one day.

Yet another inconsistency from our unhelpful government.... either public toilets should be open or not. But it's so confusing just now.

DH keeps nagging me to go to the coast (2 hours away) and I keep saying 'no go by yourself if you want to so badly'. I can't think of anything worse than driving all the way there, stopping for petrol along the way, trying to find somewhere to park, walking to a crowded beach while trying to socially distance, sitting amongst the crowd while trying to socially distance, then having to look for a loo while trying to socially distance and then driving all the way home. Where is the fun in that?

@EnglishRose1320 - there are always bushes on the side of the road or take a side turning and find a field!!

Honestly, I cannot believe how disgusting some humans are - going to the loo on the beach! Apart from the dirtiness of it, how on earth could you do that without being seen??

@MilkTrayLimeBarrel I suspect I may have to, and although I'm fairly chilled about most things I really hate a wild wee, but if needs must!

I think public toilets should be open, they're likely the only place where a person can properly wash their hands. It doesn't matter if the loo handle, door etc are contaminated as long as you properly wash your hands.

We went to the beach after work yesterday. It’s about 30 minutes away. It’s a 10 minute walk down a steep path so tends to be locals only as you wouldn’t know it was there from the road. There is no toilet so I peed in the sea. Warmed my wetsuit up very nicely. It’s a huge beach and is never crowded.

Replying to this:

"Francina670 Thu 21-May-20 08:05:50
They need to open toilets immediately. It’s verging on discriminatory. Many women have bladder weakness after pregnancy and it’s a real problem at the moment."

You have got to be joking. Perhaps they should stay closer to home then and not drive so far where there are no toilets open for anyone (they are not just closed for women with bladder weakness!). Seriously there is a reason why they are closed since many people have poor hygiene in public toilets anyway and so don't want to spread the virus!

If people stayed closed to home then there would be no need to defecate on the beach! As for wee - there are various things women can use to wee in! Or take a potty is you really need to wee very often even on short trips or use incontinence pads.

EnglishRose if the funeral is at a crematorium they generally have loos.
Petrol stations, especially larger ones, often have public toilets too. You could take gloves, wipes and hand sanitiser to avoid touching taps, flush mechanisms.

Quite. Surely handwashing facilities are very important. I can't see how a public toilet is such a terrible risk for a virus that transmits most effectively by prolonged proximity. Most people are in and out of the toilet within a couple of minutes.

Cleaners are cleaning toilets in places like hospitals which is far higher risk. Community transmission is very low at present. More cases are being spread within the closed environments of carehomes and hospitals.

We went for a walk around southbank in London the other day , was only when I finished the iced coffee we brought from home that I remembered that no loos were open then of course I was desperate !
Luckily google was my friend and the station had toilets open (and lots of hand gel !) won’t make that mistake again

We live a ten minute walk from the beach... I can hold my bladder but my 4 and 3 year old wee in the sea*

This makes sense. But travelling hours doesn’t.

Going to the beach for the day is a choice, a want, a desire. It is not a need. If people are unable to hold it, or unwilling to take a travel toilet with them then they should not go. It is completely unacceptable for anyone to be pissing and shitting on the beach, where other people will be subjected to their waste, just because they fancy a day out.*

Couldn’t agree more.

The beachside toilets here are all open, well into the evening.*

What state are they in?

I peed in the bushes on a very posh street in Edinburgh yesterday. I'm damned if I'm going to be tied to a tiny radius by the size of my bladder.

At our local beach they unlocked each disabled loo, so 3.
They will simply have to open them all next week as it's half term and sunny. There will be a critical point where local outrage over people pissing in the street outweighs encouraging visitors by opening the loos.
I had messages throughout the day yesterday about Camber Sands. They had to call the police in the end to deal with the numbers.

My local council has opened beach car parks and beach toilets. People are still shitting on the beach, and behind the beach huts. My dog found some yesterday [boak]

People are disgusting!

is it half term next week?
wow

All of those people flocking to the beaches are a bunch of selfish A-holes!! The fact that the RNLI have advised they are not on call, if some idiot floats off on their blow up flamingo, then good luck to them!

fiveforty they seem fine. People are queuing outside, the council street patrols are doing their thing, they seem to have a team of roaming cleaners.

The beaches are packed, but the toilets, bins, and streets are much cleaner than during normal holiday periods.

It makes me suspect that the area is overwhelmingly busy with locals enjoying time off school/work, staying close to home.

People are really doing their best, and being sensible.

We're lucky that it's walking distance (although I took the car yesterday as we have a young puppy and it was probably a bit hot for her to walk that far yesterday and I also needed to go shopping) so we go to the toilet before we leave and when we get home

Cleaners are cleaning toilets in places like hospitals which is far higher risk

I'd respectfully suggest hospitals are more crucial than your trip to the beach.

I peed in the bushes on a very posh street in Edinburgh yesterday. I'm damned if I'm going to be tied to a tiny radius by the size of my bladder

why should you be inconvenienced, much better to behave like an animal without the most basic manners.

You can't argue with stupid can you

I don’t believe the ranty poster talking about human excrement on Skegness beach by the way.

That's normal for Skegness!

I peed in the bushes on a very posh street in Edinburgh yesterday. I'm damned if I'm going to be tied to a tiny radius by the size of my bladder

You need to sort out your bladder issues. Kegel exercises, don't drink so much if you know you are going out, and Tena lady. Peeing in the bushes in a residential street makes you pretty disgusting.

At the moment I don't think I would want to use the public toilets near a beach. I remember the state they would be in normally and I think right now it would be worse.

I do think people need to learn the etiquette of the 'country wee' though and do it away from other people and their property - behind beach huts is grim.

Men can do wees in a bottle and pour it down a drain if they can't wait. Women can buy one of those funnels for a bottle.

There are ways of making camping toilets using a bin bag, pool noodle and a bucket. All the waste can then be taken home and disposed of properly.

All else fails, they're on the beach and can dig a deep hole. Provided they don't also bury their wet wipes, there are worse ways of dealing with this.