Life Rule #2
I had been hanging around the Riga train station for most of the afternoon. I had my big pack with me, and I put in storage. I had wandered over to the Riga public market, and picked up some juice, oranges trail mix, figs, and a few pastries. The train to St Petersburg did not leave for a couple of hours..I had time to kill. Needless to say, I had submitted in the afternoon to tasting several pastries and swilling back several cups of coffee. As the time approached for my train to leave, I figured a visit to mother nature would be in order. As I had never been on a Russian train, I had no idea what the washroom facilities would be like, and it was a 12 hour ride ahead of me. The story goes downhill from here so those with weak stomachs should stop reading.... I see the sign “WC”, the international sign for Wasser Closet ( washrooms).. Perfect. I walk in and there is a woman sitting in a little booth. She makes it known to me, that it is a pay washroom and I must pay 15 centimos ($0.30 CDN) to use it.. Not a big deal, but I figure if I am paying that I may as well get full use of the washroom and not just have a quick pee. Into the cubicle.. everything looks clean.. ok, I don't mind paying. I won't go into the details of things, suffice to say, the mission was accomplished. . Now to just finish the job..the paperwork.. I look around.. to my left, a blank wall... to my right.. a blank wall.. I check out the back of the door.. a blank panel.. The TP must be behind me.. I turn one way... nope.. I turn the other way... nope... Just a minute here.. There has to be a TP dispenser in here somewhere.. Again I search the side walls. The back of the door... the back of the cubicle.. Nope.. Nothing in sight.. I am getting that feeling of dread and panic, that perhaps there is no TP dispenser here. One more good look everywhere in the cubicle.. Nope.. No TP dispenser. Hmmm What to do? What to do? Fortunately, years have traveling have taught me to never go anywhere without a bit of TP with me. I had my small pack and yuppers, there in the bottom of the pack is the little spoils of a roll of TP that has been across the Andes with me, but never used, to Antarctica and back, but never used...It is now about to prove it's worth. Now I am thinking to myself this is a bit of a strange thing, so as I am washing my hands, I notice that against the wall in the lobby of the washroom is a TP dispenser. It dawns on me... One has to load up on TP before one heads for the cubicle....Now to me, deciding how much TP to use has always been a bit of a private affair. Normally there is nobody really watching one deciding on TP usage.. One can use one square, two squares, three square, four squares, or even a handful of TP, and nobody really knows. It is between me, the toilet, and the TP dispenser. And it depends on to how much of a job the TP has to do....Remember LIFE RULE # 2? Never trust a fart...... . To have to declare how much TP to take with you, under the watchful eye of the washroom attendant . Does she reprimand you for taking too much? Do you plan for normal? Or do you plan for the worst case scenario? What happens if you do not take enough? Could you call out to the attendant and ask them to bring you more? Does she keep statistics about how many squares the average person uses? Does she have a video camera in the cubicle to watch people who are caught unawares? I am marking this down as just a very strange custom...
I had been hanging around the Riga train station for most of the afternoon. I had my big pack with me, and I put in storage. I had wandered over to the Riga public market, and picked up some juice, oranges trail mix, figs, and a few pastries. The train to St Petersburg did not leave for a couple of hours..I had time to kill. Needless to say, I had submitted in the afternoon to tasting several pastries and swilling back several cups of coffee. As the time approached for my train to leave, I figured a visit to mother nature would be in order. As I had never been on a Russian train, I had no idea what the washroom facilities would be like, and it was a 12 hour ride ahead of me. The story goes downhill from here so those with weak stomachs should stop reading.... I see the sign “WC”, the international sign for Wasser Closet ( washrooms).. Perfect. I walk in and there is a woman sitting in a little booth. She makes it known to me, that it is a pay washroom and I must pay 15 centimos ($0.30 CDN) to use it.. Not a big deal, but I figure if I am paying that I may as well get full use of the washroom and not just have a quick pee. Into the cubicle.. everything looks clean.. ok, I don't mind paying. I won't go into the details of things, suffice to say, the mission was accomplished. . Now to just finish the job..the paperwork.. I look around.. to my left, a blank wall... to my right.. a blank wall.. I check out the back of the door.. a blank panel.. The TP must be behind me.. I turn one way... nope.. I turn the other way... nope... Just a minute here.. There has to be a TP dispenser in here somewhere.. Again I search the side walls. The back of the door... the back of the cubicle.. Nope.. Nothing in sight.. I am getting that feeling of dread and panic, that perhaps there is no TP dispenser here. One more good look everywhere in the cubicle.. Nope.. No TP dispenser. Hmmm What to do? What to do? Fortunately, years have traveling have taught me to never go anywhere without a bit of TP with me. I had my small pack and yuppers, there in the bottom of the pack is the little spoils of a roll of TP that has been across the Andes with me, but never used, to Antarctica and back, but never used...It is now about to prove it's worth. Now I am thinking to myself this is a bit of a strange thing, so as I am washing my hands, I notice that against the wall in the lobby of the washroom is a TP dispenser. It dawns on me... One has to load up on TP before one heads for the cubicle....Now to me, deciding how much TP to use has always been a bit of a private affair. Normally there is nobody really watching one deciding on TP usage.. One can use one square, two squares, three square, four squares, or even a handful of TP, and nobody really knows. It is between me, the toilet, and the TP dispenser. And it depends on to how much of a job the TP has to do....Remember LIFE RULE # 2? Never trust a fart...... . To have to declare how much TP to take with you, under the watchful eye of the washroom attendant . Does she reprimand you for taking too much? Do you plan for normal? Or do you plan for the worst case scenario? What happens if you do not take enough? Could you call out to the attendant and ask them to bring you more? Does she keep statistics about how many squares the average person uses? Does she have a video camera in the cubicle to watch people who are caught unawares? I am marking this down as just a very strange custom...
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