Sunday, May 25, 2008

Shithouses I have used - Nos. 43, 44 and 45

No 43 - Glastonbury 1971 - a six foot deep trench roughly dug out with a JCB, with scaffold boards to squat/sit on. This was fairly bad - lots of really choking smells, and sights to behold beyond your wildest imagination. And needless to say, the odd hippy having to climb out after having lost balance during the evacuation process. Not somewhere to visit at the height of your trip.

No 44 - Mehrauli, Delhi 1971 - These ancient loos in a buddhist monastry were truly magnificent. Eight feet high hollow concrete cubes with a eight inch square hole in the centre of the top. They were situated in a beautiful walled compound and while squatting over the hole, in the glorious dawn sunlight, you were just high enough to see the magnificent old temples that are just everywhere in that area.
Monks had been shitting in these holes for centuries and mysteriously, they never seemed to fill up. There was no smell, and the best thing was, after you finished crapping, a mongoose came along and went down the hole to see if there was anything of value left behind (in my case, at the time I had bad ameobic dysentry , so I guess he left pretty dissappointed.

No 45 - Vagator Beach, Goa 1972 - These were my favourite loos of all time. Way ahead of the game, this was permaculture in action Big Time. The loos were small dark cells, providing a nice cool refuge from the baking hot Goan sun. You just hung your arse over this ledge and shat. As your turds hit the deck outside, you could hear the satisfied grunts of the Goan pigs enjoying the latest offerings, yum yum.
And yes, the locals did eat pork.

15 comments:

  1. This is more like it! Lovely stuff, keep it coming.

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  2. I thought you were going to say the best thing was the mongooses licked your arse clean.

    Excellent post, Tom.

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  3. Thank you Emily Dickinson.

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  4. Thanks for this useful scattological guide for tourists and adventurers. From your vast hippy experience I conclude that the amazingly wise Indian subcontinent is way ahead of England as far as scattological matters are concerned. LOL ;)

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  5. I last went to Glastonbury in 1999. The toilets were still a heap of crap even then.

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  6. one of your finer posts.

    Quite moving.

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  7. THIS wasn't in Lonely Planet!

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  8. Knebworth 1999 rivaled Glastonbury


    also, anywhere in France.

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  9. Atleast a small percentage of the billions of tons of excrement is fertilising the ground and nourishing the livestock, instead of being pumped straight into the Grunges River.

    How on Earth does this planet keep going?

    HAHAHA Emily Dickinson HAHAHA!

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  10. Thanks... I just threw up in my mouth a little... thanks again. (I agree with Pammy... how moving!)

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  11. Tom, can you even begin to imagine your very own thunder box-you would be in seventh heaven!

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  12. Dry-loos were for a long time very much the norm in rural Norway and are still found in relative abundance. Built well away from the main building, they're basically small huts with a wooden bench built into the back wall with two holes in (duo loos - you can share your 'duties' with a pal) that led down to a dug out in the earth that was full of shit. Eventually it all rotted down and was used to fertilize the land. Very smelly in summer (and not nice when flies are buzzing round your arse) and bloody cold in winter. Ah, the memories...

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  13. Now thank you Sharon - my plan was that we would all sit down and describe memorable shit houses from our past. Alas it was only me and you.

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