endlessrarities | (no subject)

I just spent Valentine's Day on Day One of the Toilet Survey. We visited six toilets, recorded five in detail (which is something of a record - five buildings in one day! Wow!!!) and joyfully crossed them off the 'To Do' list. To my chagrin, five out of the six were all different - I was hoping some would be duplicates so they wouldn't have to be recorded at all...

So I can now add a detailed understanding of changing 20th century sanitary wares to my already extensive palmares. We had original 1930s toilets, modified 1930s toilets, 1950s toilets, and 1970s toilets. And then there were the gender divisions: male toilets (with urinals) and female toilets (without). Trust me, girls (and boys, too, I suppose): having to make detailed sketches and measurements of a 1930s urinal is a seriously weird experience. Still, someone had to do it: I was oscillating between the geeky ceramics specialist (sticking my nose up close and saying 'ooh, what does that say?' as I tried to decipher the maker's mark) and squeamish girlie-girl (exclaiming, "eek! That's GROSS!!' as I finally realised that I was sticking my nose into a urinal). Ah, the joys... We have another two toilets to complete tomorrow (before returning to the more mundane topic of section stores and miscellaneous office) and then after that I suppose I'll be able to start compiling the Definitive Typology of Toilet Types. That's before we get onto the subject of handbasins, of which I identified five different types, All were faithfully recorded, with locations of soap recesses marked, and the cross-section of the basin drawn in detailed (one had a lip all the way round, one had a chamfered edge, one had a lip along either side edge, and the other two were just plain BORING). Yes, my job is this anal (pardon the unfortunate pun...) even when the material encountered is blatantly modern.

Last night, we watched the Simon Schama episode ' Burning Convictions', which was about Henry VIII, Edward and Mary. I realised then why I hate, I really hate, I really, really, really hate, Thomas Cromwell. It's all Simon Schama's fault - he's brainwashed me into detesting the man (but the historical episodes of vandalism and brutality he cites are pretty damning, I must admit). Hats off to Hilary Mantel: in Wolf Hall, she managed to create a character I found convincing as a person, and as a representation of Thomas Cromwell, and yet I didn't really detest him all that much, because everything he did seemed justified and reasonable. Now that's good writing for you!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Being a woman of this day and age, I am really only familiar with the modern day toilet. I am not sure if I could count on two hands the amount of urinals that I have seen first hand. Now that I have a son in school, I am hearing way too many details on urinals. I am also fairly sure that I would never pick to have one in my own home after listening to second grader stories of what his friends do to the urinals.

As for the history of toilets, I have never thought to see how they have changed over the years. While I understand there had to be some advancements between "hole in the ground" and what we use today, I am not aware of those changes.

The changes are all stylistic - wall-mounted clunky-looking cisterns, holding less water, as opposed to larger ceramic cisterns, or slimline plastic ones. It's quite important to differentiate the different eras as it shows how the factory sections expanded/contracted throughout its history. And how the different proportions of male/female workers changed.