No matter where we go, the urge to use a toilet is a compelling companion.
For some, finding toilets that can be zero’d in on while travelling the world becomes a quest.
Places of blessed relief no matter the city.
Hubs is one of those and the whole family has benefitted over the years.
Some of us have even caught the habit!
I have attempted to trick my unwelcome travelling companion by ensuring I arise early enough to flush my system.
I then reduce my liquid intake so that I am not caught awfully short while enjoying a moment of sight-seeing.
There have been wonderful days when I’ve been battling allergies and taken a tablet. My nose stops running and my need to spend a quick penny also dissipates in the wake of the antihistamine.
What happens when we are not in the city? In America there can be hundreds of miles between watering holes.
During my recent trip to Arkansas to watch my son climb,
we joked about some of the huts we saw on the roadside,
calling them privies or outhouses and adding them to our list of possibilities in an emergency.
Personally I would feel safer up a hill and behind a tree, there’s no knowing what kind of critter is going to fetch up in an abandoned rustic shelter.
One morning I had an extra cup of coffee, a delicious fireside brew I couldn’t pass up. Something about the salt!
We reached our destination trail and I regarded my horse, Otis, in his field,
and decided the pressure I was feeling was more than anxiety.
Emboldened by my age and the sight of a cozy cabin in the woods complete with porch and rocker, I asked,
“Do you have a restroom I can use?” I had zero’d in on my toilet in the foothills of the Ozarks.
“Yes. You can use the outhouse behind you.”
I was taken aback and charmed all at once. A real live outhouse, not plumbed in or anything, right there for the relieving!
My companion and I absolutely could not resist!
It was utterly Norman Rockwall at his most basic.
I hoped I was safe from snakes? The owner said,
“It’s a little chilly for rattlers.” Bless you chilly!
I had to stop myself from running to the worn and warped privy. I opened the weighted door with a silent, ‘Yee-hah!’
There was a wooden toilet seat over the hole, oval on round.
I lifted the lid and had a look down. It was quite a distance to the sandstone, rocks and small boulders below.
I saw no critters.
There was roll of real toilet paper…
and plenty of fresh air!
I looked again at the smoke curling from the cozy cabin as I mounted Otis and gently nudged him with my heels.
Hubs and son smiled at me as we said together,
“Giddy-up boys!”
I knew they were jealous!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
No comments so far!
2012-10-31 11:20:35
While cute little houses of great need I’ll agree, being the only ‘small room’ for 2 weeks at Scout camp, in the middle of a sweltering Texas summer, makes them none too attractive as the memories of the stench, when used by hundreds, never leaves.
2012-10-31 11:46:21
Haha!! We had an outside loo at my grandmother’s house in London and newspaper on a nail, not just for reading! It didn’t smell though but I bet it would have in the Texas heat.
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