To pee or not to pee….that is the question?
My daily blog reading took me to this post on the use of toilets. (via MLQ3)
Manila is a special city when it comes to ‘relieving oneself’…particularly for the male of the species…it seems that anywhere will do to have a quick pee….no matter how public…in fact I am beginning to think that the rule is ‘the more public the better’….when I first arrived in Manila I used to question how many men I would see closely examining brick work…until the penny (no pun intended) dropped…
In the mornings I walk from my block down Wack Wack Road to Shaw Boulevard…along the road there is one patch of wall more favoured than the others for ‘relieving’ purposes…granted there is a tiny slip of a tree doing its best to offer a certain level of privacy….if I tell you that the girth of the tree trunk is probably about 5 inches…you should get some idea of the ‘level’ of privacy. Early in the mornings the taxis wait at this area to be summoned to the apartments along Wack Wack Road…so naturally depending on their wait, the drivers will need to use the wall at some stage….it usually seems to be the same collection of taxi drivers and I now know a few of them…not well, but at least enough that when I get into the taxi they know where to take me….and well enough that they greet me in the mornings…regardless of whether they are sitting in their taxis, perched at the side of the road chatting…or appendage in hand watering the tree…last Sunday…two of them at the same time felt the need to relieve themselves…and both waved whilst doing it and shouted a cheery “Good Morning”.
How do I tell them that being British something in my DNA cannot handle such ‘openness’!!!
It seems that the problem is not confined to Manila…my friend who lives in Cebu once walked passed a taxi driving answering the call of nature…who swung round and said “Taxi Ma’am?”…whilst waving his one-eyed trouser snake at her….!!!
It seems that the public urination problem is something that the authorities are aware of and so posted around the city are the wonderful pink urinals….see picture below…pilfered from My Everyday Manila.
These pink creations are almost a Manila icon…so much so that a replica pen holder has been doing the rounds…I am very proud to say that I have one sitting on my desk…and it will probably be my most treasured souvenir of the Philippines….
Manila is a special city when it comes to ‘relieving oneself’…particularly for the male of the species…it seems that anywhere will do to have a quick pee….no matter how public…in fact I am beginning to think that the rule is ‘the more public the better’….when I first arrived in Manila I used to question how many men I would see closely examining brick work…until the penny (no pun intended) dropped…
In the mornings I walk from my block down Wack Wack Road to Shaw Boulevard…along the road there is one patch of wall more favoured than the others for ‘relieving’ purposes…granted there is a tiny slip of a tree doing its best to offer a certain level of privacy….if I tell you that the girth of the tree trunk is probably about 5 inches…you should get some idea of the ‘level’ of privacy. Early in the mornings the taxis wait at this area to be summoned to the apartments along Wack Wack Road…so naturally depending on their wait, the drivers will need to use the wall at some stage….it usually seems to be the same collection of taxi drivers and I now know a few of them…not well, but at least enough that when I get into the taxi they know where to take me….and well enough that they greet me in the mornings…regardless of whether they are sitting in their taxis, perched at the side of the road chatting…or appendage in hand watering the tree…last Sunday…two of them at the same time felt the need to relieve themselves…and both waved whilst doing it and shouted a cheery “Good Morning”.
How do I tell them that being British something in my DNA cannot handle such ‘openness’!!!
It seems that the problem is not confined to Manila…my friend who lives in Cebu once walked passed a taxi driving answering the call of nature…who swung round and said “Taxi Ma’am?”…whilst waving his one-eyed trouser snake at her….!!!
It seems that the public urination problem is something that the authorities are aware of and so posted around the city are the wonderful pink urinals….see picture below…pilfered from My Everyday Manila.
These pink creations are almost a Manila icon…so much so that a replica pen holder has been doing the rounds…I am very proud to say that I have one sitting on my desk…and it will probably be my most treasured souvenir of the Philippines….
posted by Madame Chiang at 6:22 am
2 Comments:
"Wack Wack Rd", are you sure they are just peeing? ~grin~
now there's a charming thought!
To be honest I didn't check and really....I don't think I want to...
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