Public toilets to remain open this time!

I don’t have a problem with public toilets, washing hands well and using hand sanitiser should be enough to kill any germs. I’m not sure it’s any worse that touching door handles etc. What I do have a problem with is the hand dryers which are wafting the air about and I do refuse to use those even if it means “drip-dry”. We are told to keep 2m away from people, but I’m guessing that has no effect if the air is being blown about. I have only been to one place where the driers were out of action and that was in a single toilet in a car showroom, when I had my car serviced!

Thank goodness, the only one open in our town is in Waitrose but if I go out for a cycle ride and get caught short I am afraid it will be wild wee with Mr Barmey keeping guard. There are plenty of wild places around us.

I am a frequent visitor to Honiton, and the public toilets in the car park there have not been reopened, so not all public authorities are helping out the needy!

Once you have got used to using the she-wee it works well with trousers. It comes supplied with and extension pipe for use when wearing inconvenient clothing.

When you gotta go yous gotta go, or else stooded in a puddle !

It hasn't stopped visitors to our country village using the bushes around the car park, even though the public loo is open 10-4 each day. I hate to think what state the hills are in, with hundreds of walkers going up there for hours and hours.

I think it’s more important to go out (safely of course) than to stay at home because you might need the toilet. A few weeks ago there was an article by Dr Mark Porter in the Times. He is a GP and writes w weekly column. It said that as always it’s possible to catch a gastric virus in a toilet but not COVID if the facilities are clean. Just have some sanitizer and tissues with you. Don’t touch door handles etc and wash your hands thoroughly. I also carry a small pack of hand wipes in case there’s no soap. It was also mentioned that the damage to one’s mental health is significant if you don’t get out into the fresh air and have a change of scene.

Yes us walkers, well I use to be one, do go into the hills and countryside and walk for hours and hours and if we need to go, we go. No worse in my mind than animals using the countryside for their needs.

I believe it's unlawful to refuse a pregnant woman the use of a toilet. Of course, it could be an urban myth or simply a figment of my imagination. I've considered trying it, if challenged, by saying, "Didn't you know you're obliged to let a pregnant woman use the toilet?" rather than actually claiming to be pregnant myself. I could claim age discrimination if I was challenged to reveal my age. OK I'm 68 but stranger things have happened....

I'm sure there was an old law about pregnant women being allowed to wee in a policeman's helmet. (Perhaps that's my imagination making it up, though)

I really dislike public toilets at the best of times, and during the pandemic there’s no way I would use one. However, I haven’t strayed far from home either.

I remember in my first job, a naive 17 year old, and a pregnant colleague telling me that only children and pregnant women are allowed to wee in the gutter (if the baby is lying on the bladder). I had no idea then if that was true, and I still have no idea!

MissAdventure - I thought the same about a policeman's helmet, so either it is fact, or a well spread urban myth

However - I had no idea that Covid is present in faeces. And I'm wondering how?? Does that mean that Covid is present in our bodies and passes out via faeces? Or that the food we eat contains Covid and doesn't get processed and therefore passes out?

I am genuinely amazed by this information, and hadn't hear it before.

Lucca, I have walked into a hotel just to use the facilities, it's a case of having too.

I have IBS and the friendliest and cleanest loos I have found are in bookies !
I don’t bet but a “please can I use your loo “ hasn’t been refused once . I only found out about them one day when I was absolutely desperate in a strange town and happened to stop outside the betting shop in pain , glanced in and so the Toilet sign .

HurdyGurdy Covid can shed via faeces and in fact there are tests being done in various areas on sewage to check the prevalence of the virus.

www.gov.uk/government/news/sewage-signals-early-warning-of-coronavirus-outbreaks

I'm in Scotland and our council has opened some of the public toilets.
There has, however, been vandalism in a few of them causing them to be closed again, temporarily.
It is really annoying that some people would do such a nasty thing.

Smileless2012

We live in a popular sea side town so I'm disappointed that public toilets will remain open as having them closed before, kept visitors away.

Sorry, but that sounds incredibly mean-spirited. If you are lucky enough to live in a beautiful place, then you have to be prepared to share it with those who are not so lucky. It isn't 'yours'.