Tuesday 24th July

Toilets are always a big issue, when travelling.

We were lucky in that we had our own facilities with us at all times, on 2XS.  A few slightly awkward moments, when close in to shore and unable to use our flushing toilet because we, like the houseboats and barges on the Canal du Midi, don’t have a holding tank… I won’t go into details but suffice to say the port-a-potty on deck was all very lovely but sometimes – just a bit – ahem – public…

Apparently most of the public toilets in New York City have been closed, to discourage the homeless – well to discourage them from using the facilities, I suppose!  The results are not pretty.  My friend Chris was walking in Central Park one day, enjoying the ambiance, when her eye was drawn to a large woman peeing in the middle of a flower bed.  The woman saw Chris looking her way and started to shout, “Do I know you?  What are you looking at!” and Chris fled, showing the whites of her eyes, down a small pathway lined with petunias.