A
Road Less Travelled
'A
French Letter'
Saint
Aubin de Pouancè
3rd
of June 2016.
A
Clochemerle Day.
Today
I thought I might share with you, one of the French 'delights'
- the street toilet, or thunderbox! I can remember as a kid it was
common for the local councils in Britain to provide public toilets in
the street. Many of which have now vanished due to 'cost savings'. In
France however, there are many street toilets around and the small
towns and villages take a pride in keeping them in good order.
However, I want to stress that what I am about to describe – is not
me taking the piss, so to speak.
One
French custom I remember, was that while you would sometimes see the
British holiday maker standing at the side of the road taking a piss
into the hedgerow - the French always stood by the side of the
hedgerow and pissed into the road. Many years ago when we used to
drive down to Carcassonne in the south of France on holiday. We used
to use generic names for any unknown French men and women (Claude
Balls and Fifi la Belle). So we would say, look away now Claude is
taking a pee!
I
was reminded of this quaint custom when a passer by came into the
'Aires' to use the public toilette. However as both stalls and the
urinal were taken at the time, we saw the Frog had returned outside
and took a pee direct into the elsan! It should be remembered that
the French 'village toilets' are often unisex. The public toilette at
the 'Aires' has a wash basin and a small wall mounted urinal in the
entrance. I still find it amusing to see Fifi come out of a stall to
wash her hands while Claude is taking a leak in the urinal at the
same time.
Then
there was also something almost unique to French toilets. What we
always called the French 'thunder box'. In a roadside toilet there
would often be a tiled floor which would surround a much larger
ceramic square section with a hole in it. The ceramic square usually
came complete with a pair of what could best be described as
footrests. I think the footrests were provided to help the French
when aiming for the hole.
The
kids were not keen on using them – however on this particular day.
One of the kids was 'taken short' and we pulled into a lay by. It was
announced very loudly 'Oh no its a thunderbox and there is never
any paper'. To which I light heartedly said – 'Look don't
worry, the hand will come out of the hole and wipe your arse.'
They never used a French thunderbox ever again!
Meanwhile back at Saint Aubin de Pouancè.....
The
water levels on the river Seine are at an all time record high level.
We know that we will have to cross the river at some point on our way
back to Calais. Already the ferry service is closed down and many of
the road crossings are also closed as a precaution. We have decided
to delay our departure until after the weekend. We hope that the
water levels will have fallen and the various road crossings are
re-opened to traffic.
We
have been enjoying the highlights of the Isle of Man TT races on
satellite television. Also we have been watching Andy Murray in the
French Open Championship at Roland Garos tennis centre. Which is only
about 100 soggy miles from our location.
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