The loo

As in that thing that you skip to.

Considering they are basically the same, I find the bathrooms here remarkably odd. First there is the term you use for when you are going to visit the restroom. I have always been one to say 'I'm going to go to the bathroom', but when you say bathroom here, you risk getting strange looks. They just call it the toilet. As in, 'I'm going to the toilet'. This sounds not that great to me, so I cannot bring myself to say it and keep referring to it as the bathroom. You can indeed call it the loo, but that's apparently for people who don't like to say toilet (which I suppose would be me...).

Now, when you walk into the 'toilet' there is your normal row of stalls (I'm sorry, but I can only describe the ladies' rooms), but the toilets look a little funny and there are no toilet seat covers (I have been to all sorts of locales, and not a single place has had them). The other thing that gets me is the complete absence of paper towels for drying your hands. Some may see this is an effort towards environmental sustainability, I just see it as annoying, because the air dryers never works and you have to dry your hands on your pants. Excuse me, trousers, because they look at you funny when you say pants as well. If I do come across an English bathroom that features either a toilet seat cover or paper towels, I will be sure to make a note of it here.

The only thing I've learned about the men's room is that urinal is pronounced 'yer-I-nul' instead of 'yer-uh-nul'.

I have officially made the switch over to blogger beta. I don't know what impact this will have, but hopefully things should work a little better.