Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Are most of the TOILETS in FRANCE the squatting ones?

27 replies

RTKangaMummy · 03/09/2008 12:24

DS is going with the school next month and if they are squatting ones I would like to warn him.

We have only seen them in Singapore

I haven't been to France since I was a teenager which was many many many years ago.

Thanks

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 03/09/2008 12:25

no

but they are in egypt

ranting · 03/09/2008 12:26

No, you do get squatting ones in the public loos at the lakes though.

uptomyeyes · 03/09/2008 12:27

No they are mostly standard ones now.

Wheelybug · 03/09/2008 12:27

No I think they are much rarer than they used to be - most likely to be found in public loos - i.e. road side stops with loos (more basic than a service station), beach side public loos. Also maybe in older style restaurants (was in france twice this year and saw them once each time in the above situations).

TsarChasm · 03/09/2008 12:28

The ones we went to were like ours in uk. Although sometimes with no seat for some strange reason.

PrimulaVeris · 03/09/2008 12:29

Went to France this summer, firs time in ages

Mostly flush, but some squatters are still in existence. I just couldn't 'go' in one....

FluffyMummy123 · 03/09/2008 12:29

Message withdrawn

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 12:31

Yes, in public/institutional buildings there are still a lot about.

In apartment blocks in Paris with loos shared between several apartments (still happens) they are usually Turkish-type.

Lionstar · 03/09/2008 12:32

Last time I came across them in France was in a ski resort , as if there was a place you would be less likely to want to drop the vast acreages of padded clothing the sport requires than a stinky squat toilet! Especially odd as it is the french who insist on wearing those oh-so-sexy all in one suits - I mean where would it go between your legs - or do you remove completely ROFL.

Otherwise I think most touristy places are up to date these days

littlerach · 03/09/2008 12:49

WE've just come back and they erwe nearly all squatty ones.

First time I was horrified.

After a fornight it seemed normal

Dd2 would only go on them like a bloke.

Oh, and some of them were unisex and had a urinal in corner, then couplke cubicles for ladies.

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 12:53

Unisex is very common in France - most offices (even in investment banks, consulting firms, law firms etc) won't have separate loos for men and women.

There was a big outcry a couple of years ago from paediatricians who claimed that the unusually high incidence of urinary tract infections in little girls in France was due to them being expected to share the loos at school with the boys - the girls hated the wee everywhere.

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 12:53

Sorry didn't finish that - so the little girls held on to their wee all day to avoid the loos at school. Hence the infections.

FluffyMummy123 · 03/09/2008 12:57

Message withdrawn

PrimulaVeris · 03/09/2008 12:59

There were several in motorway service stations which, though full of conventional flush cubicles, were unisex

There was also this amazing stainless steel one in a tourist town that had a traffic light entry system (automatic disinfectant spray after each client had finished), max time allowed inside was 15 mins (god knows what happened to you then!)

IdrisTheDragon · 03/09/2008 13:00

When we went to France three years ago, and I was pregnant with DD, I had to use one in a service station type place.

Was slightly worried I would never get up again, but luckily managed

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 13:02

I never really understand why they still have them in France.

I can just about understand the hygiene thing in very hot and undeveloped countries...

But there are still some very very very peculiar old fashioned things going in in this country

FluffyMummy123 · 03/09/2008 13:02

Message withdrawn

PrimulaVeris · 03/09/2008 13:02

The service stations without cafes/petrol stations just have trucker squats, BUT there was usually a disabled (flushing) toilet which had a queue almost as long as the motorway itself

Lots of blokes used to just piss by the fence instead. Alright for some

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 13:03

PrimulaVeris - my DP likes to piss by the side of the road. Or, even better, against a tree. He says its a primeval urge

PrimulaVeris · 03/09/2008 13:05

I knew it would happen, bang-on relevant loo thread and it happens whilst I'm on holiday avoiding the squats

We went over the border to Switzerland one day, oooohhhh the loos were so clean there you could almost eat your dinner off them. Bliss.

PrimulaVeris · 03/09/2008 13:08

pmsl Anna! French men seemed to have no inhibitions about it, no attempt to step inside the bushes or behind anything at all

Where we stayed was the starting point of a lovely hill walk. At sstart of said walk was a rock. We soon came to call it the 'pissing rock' because of the sheer number of men who used it for that purpose before or after their walk

FluffyMummy123 · 03/09/2008 13:10

Message withdrawn

Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 13:20

I agree, French men have no inhibitions about it.

I have tried explaining to my DP that it's best to hide behind a tree if he has to do it in England... he's very sceptical. It's deeply engrained within him that it's a basic male human right.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 03/09/2008 14:19

blimey!!!!!!!!!!!

I will deffo warn DS then

What about hotels etc?

They are staying in a place for schoolchildren

Sorry coddy I was away when the other thread was going and didn't think of looking in CHAT

OP posts:
Anna8888 · 03/09/2008 14:23

It might have Turkish loos. Prepare him psychologically just in case.

Like I say, my stepsons' French secondary school only has Turkish loos.