Strange American Things.

[Murphy]

Britain has a cancer bomb know as the saveloy (which autocorrects to save log), so much delicious sodium

 

[luka]

In England we can never get this sort of thing right. Specifically the portions are too small and it's too expensive. And there's never anywhere to sit. It's so cold and raining here all the time, half the time you just want somewhere warm.

this obviosuly is what the country is crying out for. particularly harsh when your in a teetotal phase. it brings me to despair
sometimes like where the fuck am i supposed to go. its even worse now you cant nip into a gallery or library

 

[catalog]

I was reading a zine a while ago about how there used to be 100+ public toilets in the city centre of Manchester, I'm not sure of time frame exactly, but it was basically saying that cities are now full of people who desperately need a piss and there's nowhere (free) to go. I honestly go buy a drink somewhere sometimes just so I can have a piss.

 

[luka]

its harder than ever. a lot of places have pretended they cant let customers use the toilet now 'cos of coronoa' and also a lot of the others are making it so theres a code on the door you cant get without a receipt. ive got a friend whos approaching 50 and every time i see him he has a 'poo crisis' the last two times ive met up with him he been forced to jump into a bush and do a shit in the bush.

 

[luka]

the last time was in regents park during frieze. all the old rich gay collectors dragging their young burmese boyfriends after them. he just started looking really troubled and said, i'll back in a sec and just dove into these bushes. you could smell it wafting over the vicinity

 

[catalog]

Yeah there was a lot of shitty tissue, noticeable uptick in the amount, in public parks during lockdown 1. I think we were talking about it on here.

Such a basic thing to get right.

 

[catalog]

Would solve so many problems if there were just a lot more decent public toilets. Manchester Piccadilly to their credit have good ones and theyre free to use

 

[luka]

well we cant all arrange to be in manchester picadilly every time we need a shit. the got rid of them using junkies and vandalism as an excuse. you can still see the stairs leading down to all the old ones. but with iron gates locked shut at the bottom. some have been
converted to resturaunts and bars and tanning salons

 

[catalog]

A few in Manchester have become awful pubs.

 

[catalog]

You should run for mayor of London on a platform of "piss and shit for all" you would get a lot of votes.

 

[luka]

id get assasinated. theyd put a target on my back. why do you think no one has had that idea before?

 

[catalog]

Because its so basic as to be laughable? Cos mayor's are supposed to be blue skying?

 

[catalog]

The real reason is cos its a money drain maybe. Its sort of become illegal to run something that is really good and useful if its free. See NHS. Libraries. Public toilets.

 

[luka]

yes

 

[luka]

one small victory is that they have given up on trying to charge us to piss here.

 

[luka]

for a few years you had to hop a turnstile if you wanted to piss in a train station toilet, or pay the fee of course

 

[catalog]

Where you work? Around here, all the people who work outdoors have deals with local cafes I think.

 

[william_kent]

The real reason is cos its a money drain maybe. Its sort of become illegal to run something that is really good and useful if its free. See NHS. Libraries. Public toilets.

it ends up costing anyway though, poor people forced into having to do "groundwork" or benefits stopped

take a walk along Back Piccadilly in Manchester, plenty of human shit in doorways

 

[luka]

no where i work is difficult cos we used to use the tate modern or the globe theatre nd now both options are out.
my bladder can usually manage a shift down there without needing a piss though. im not that old yet, but obviously sometimes nature calls

 

[catalog]

it ends up costing anyway though, poor people forced into having to do "groundwork" or benefits stopped

take a walk along Back Piccadilly in Manchester, plenty of human shit in doorways

Yeah this is the thing. Same with libraries. The value doesn't add up in metrics, it's hard to show/prove. But it's just obvious.

Just adds to the pressure of city living. If they had a few release valves, it would pay dividends in the long run, but no one in power thinks like that now.