'America -- Land of Abundance'

To most of the world, America is known as 'The Land of Abundance'.

This photo shows one aspect of that. Taken recently in California, but it

might have been anywhere in America. Perspective distortion

intentional. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If

you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

There is enough toilet paper here for nine stalls.

 

When I take a bus in Ukraine and pay for a toilet, the attendant hands me three 'sheets' of paper to go with me into the rest room (a squat toilet), and if (God forbid) I should later realize I have a need for more, that's just too bad.

 

Three sheets per customer.

 

In many places in the world public toilets (where they are even available at all) are in horrible shape.

 

In Moscow not so long ago a published map which featured all the 'clean' toilets in Metro Moscow just listed mostly the toilets in the local McDonald's which is American owned and at which most have a full-time attendant with mop just to mop the floors, especially in the wet months which means three-quarters of the year -- fall, winter, and spring, with rain turning into slush into snow and ice and back into abundant rain, all being tracked by the Muscovites into toilets by the boots all of them wear. Mud on floors of stores and toilets is a routine and constant condition which is why there are always old babushkij with mops standing by, ready to earn a few kopeks keeping things clean.

 

In Mocow (and Ukraine) and at times in Western Europe countries such as France it has not been uncommon for women to work in men's rooms, often near the men who were 'going about their business'.

 

In America, the police would be called.

 

Arrests would be made.

 

And in other parts of the world, public toilets often are septic (reservoirs of disease). At one time I almost broke into a toilet aboard a Russian train that took three hours to get to my destination (an old style electric style train with one toilet for 12 coaches),and the toilet obviously had not been cleaned in years; it was caked on filth. Russians (and Ukrainians) it seems have developed the world's strongest bladders in defense of exposing themselves to such conditions, which are common.

 

That train toilet was so bad that on that train men stood in the vestibule between coaches and urinated into the freezing air through openings in the vestibule onto the tracks rather than go into the sole toilet (which for those in the last coach was 11 coaches forward, through inter-coach doors that sometimes were jammed shut permantly.

 

Other parts of the world don't even have modern toilets, or they have squat toilets.

 

Some parts of the universe don't even have toilet paper.

 

That teacher who told you in grade school through high school that shaking hands with 'right hands' was to show you had no weapon was misinformed or lying.

 

The 'left hand' was used for toilet duties and nobody would shake hands with their left hand -- it was a dirty insult.

 

Still is in parts of the world.

 

Remember, toilet paper didn't even really get invented until the last 100 to 150 years.

 

In America, it was the corn cob from the silo, leaves and the Sears catalog. Toilet paper was unattainable or an unimaginable luxury.

 

This, then, is a photo of an unimaginable luxury in America, in abundance.

 

John (Crosley)

Very remarkable work, John!

well seen and shot (I like the distortion and the contrast between the surface of the tiles and the rolls texture). thank you for sharing, Giuseppe P.

interesting observations. in my country many public toilet do not have this srvice any more because of stealing and cleanning problem. regards.

This was either a remarkable photo, or a dead loser.

 

I'm glad it caught your attention.

 

This is a public restroom, but with no one to maintain it often, so it is dirty (by American standards). But no matter, American s do not know what to do without toilet paper. Really, most Americans have no idea what their forefathers did without it. None at all.

 

They did not think about it, but if they did, they thought there was always toilet paper.

 

They are wrong.

 

Someone could write a history book of cleaning one's bottom and enlighten Americans.

 

Nice to see your approving comment, Ruud.

 

John (Crosley)

There had to be distortion because of 'close quarters' and the speed in which I had to take the shot without getting arrested -- others were waiting. You may note I wasn't standing and not seated (on the toilet) either, which means I was on the floor.

 

But I wanted the distortion. This is not a photo from Architectural Digest with straight lines and right angle corners.

 

Plus It's hard to take a photo of white on white under available light, even with NEF (raw) and with Photoshop CS3 at my disposal. It was a chore to work up the lighting/contrast for this one correctly to expose the paper properly, to get the texture on the paper, and not 'blow out' all these whites. Tricky with white on white under available light.

 

And a problem with rotation to preserve the slight crop, too, as the bottom tissue had to be 'just so'.

 

I'm a perfectionist -- in hanging toilet paper depiction.

 

I hope I don't get famous for this.

 

I've said it before; I'll photograph just about anything if I think I can make a good photo of it.

 

Exhibit 1 above.

 

;~))

 

John (Crosley)

you've had some bad water, you have diarrhea and there's no toilet paper?

 

Americans would be lost - completely.

 

I met a Russian woman and they were so poor in her family they had no paper. The toilet was next to the bath. They just took a bath/shower afterward.

 

They never bought toilet paper until I bought them some.

 

But what do you do; you're walking, had some bad water, and nature is urging you -- explosively-- to do your business, and there's no paper?

 

Americans want to know.

 

(answer only if you feel comfortable. . . . . )

 

John (Crosley)

Not only is there a bunch of paper, it's locked in so you can't take it! Some children aren't even valued this much. We are so backwards. *embarassed* M

This is a very public restroom, exposed to society's low-lifes.

 

Theft would be a concern, but for the giant padlocks. You can take the paper in reasonable amounts which you unroll.

 

Especially with so tempting a target -- nine rolls.

 

About taking such care with children -- it's a parent's responsibility to watch over their children -- padlocking does not seem to be an option, unless one also has a dungeon in the basement for them.

 

I'm not sure about your analogy. It confuses me.

 

But thank you for commenting. I had intended to remark on the giant padlocks at the end of the fixture. Sooner or later, someone will remove the fixture from the wall, or bring bolt cutters to cut the locks. The target is too tempting, and the rest room seldom patrolled.

 

John (Crosley)

John;

 

My recollections of traveling through the Mediterranean including Turkey for a summer, back in my youth, include the ubiquitous squat toilet with the tin can of water. A very good reason to use one hand for personal upkeep and the other for shaking hands. I believe it was the prophet Mohammad himself who proclaimed that the left hand be used for this duty exclusively. Considering the point in history when this was proclaimed, it was a rather astute observation regarding disease transmission. Unfortunately I gather the prophet must have been right handed and I am left handed so I had one heck of a time always reminding myself to eat, drink, smoke shake hands, etc. with my right hand. I was told that the worst insult imaginable was to tug on another mans beard with your left hand.

 

Despite having been raised in North American with an abundance of toilet paper it does seem a tad extravagant to cut down trees and process them into tissues to wipe your bottom with.

 

The white of the paper is in stark contrast to the filth on the tile. And then there are those padlocks. There is a strange sense of priority going on here. I do realize the abundance is intended to dramatically reduce the frequency with which the restroom needs servicing, however it does make for an absurd spectacle. I like the distortion, it adds to the surreal nature of the scene.The width of the tile being very nearly the same as the width of the sheets adds to the strange geometry of the scene. Also interesting to note that rather than using up the rolls consecutively they appear to be being used at the same time. I guess that, that kind of abundance can have a dizzying effect :-)

Every once in a while, I get a comment so self-contained and wonderful it needs no further comment from me, other than an acknowledgement -- 'well said'.

 

John (Crosley)

There has been longstanding debate in the US whether toilet paper dispensers should dispense paper from the top or from underneath, particularly with recessed dispensers, where fishing out the paper can be a chore.

 

Manufacturers who made patterned paper solved that dilemma when they printed only on one side and only for dispensing from the top -- this was some time ago -- but the results were not widely known. At least that was the industry view and standard.

 

Here, there are eight rolls with dispense from 'under' and one roll which dispenses 'over'.

 

I can understand why for aesthetic reasons some prim and prissy guest bathroom in an American house might dispense from underneath to 'hide' that it's toilet paper amid all the doilies, guest towels, potpourri and flower-scented guest soap guests must endure.

 

God forbid guests should actually 'see' toilet paper and actually recognize that it is ready to be dispensed rather than have to reach into the recessed roll underneath to fetch a tissue or several.

 

Germans have a different attitude about their personal waste. Their toilets often have a shelf with no or little water in it, high above the main waste water receptacle. Only when one flushes does the shelf get washed clean.

 

American toilets 99 per cent are supposedly 'sanitary' in the sense that everything drops directly into water -- with a resultant splash that sends out microdroplets (I know, but don't ask me how, and can prove it if need be.)

 

Germans are well aware that theirs does stink; while many Americans pretend that they don't even go at all, I think.

 

John (Crosley)

 

(By the way, Thomas Crapper did NOT invent the modern flush toilet, was NOT elevated to the peerage because of that, and that his name bears a marked resemblance to the slang for human waste is a mere coincidence, as that slang word predates his birth, much less his marketing of the flush toilet (invented by others) to royalty and the grateful nation of England.

 

Outhouses then were standard fare before. In America *and maybe many other places with dense population and tenements* there often were multi-storied outhouses in the 1800s and early 1900s.

 

My paternal grandmother had an outhouse - a two-holer nonetheless --I guess so you would not have to wait, or want for company -- when I visited her summers in the 1950s.

 

The family that ****s together . . . . ?

 

;~))

 

jc

 

 

John;

 

I had always made the assumption that those ledges in German toilets where to allow for proper and thorough turd inspection prior to flushing, which did strike me as quite Germanic. The notion that we North Americans would prefer not to acknowledge that we even have a need to defecate had never occurred to me, now that you have raised the notion it does seem to me to be very North American. Fascinating what you can surmise about a culture by perusing their bathrooms.

very good and original image. But i think you should go to Cuba, my country) to see what really is a restroom in extremely bad condition. The only thing you need to do is to go to any public place, like a movie theater or a cafeteria. you will see washrooms never cleaned since 1959...and Toilet Paper...what is that? just official newspapers....Regards...

Yes, exactly, thorough turd inspection and unadulterated smells as well, however overpowering. Gotta have a strong stomach to use a German design toilet.

 

Nothing's going to get past the thorough Germans.

 

Got to know what the system's doing.

 

Inspect before flushing.

 

Tray is almost like an inspection table, then flush when inspection's over.

 

I always though that was the key to the German psyche, since my first trip to Germany 40 years ago.

 

And the contrast to American culture was too unimaginable.

 

Then, remember in America those low-energy toilets than just slowly swirled and after a minute or so of swirlying eventually flushed but it was almost as though they never were being flushed at all - the whole stuff just kind of 'disappeared' but very, very slowly after doing a spin or three around the bowl? I knew several women (who lived alone) who had such toilets.

 

Then there's the French (and the British), with those overhead models with the chain -- pull the chain and there's an overwhelming sound of rushing water and beware anything caught in the way.

 

All very forceful -- GET AWAY!!!!! I've used FORCE TO BANISH YOU FROM MY PRESENCE!!!!!!!

 

Even the German toilets use that high tank, or did, I recall, but it washes that inspection shelf first in German toilets.

 

Now, in America for low-flush and ecology reasons,we're starting to see in work/restaurant applications, vacuum-powered high-energy flush toilets that use little water but make a tremendous sound and flush with tremendous force. No ball and cock in those toilet tanks -- it's all high tech.

 

Will wonders never cease?

 

And a restaurant I ate in recently had a urinal that has never been flushed. It has a patented 'no flush' design that never needs rinsing and never smells. Uses absolutely no tap water. Works great. It's been installed for several years and never been flushed -- there's no way to flush it -- no valve at all.

 

I thought this photo would be a klunker but couldn't help but post it; I snickered when I did. Now I'm glad I did, as the response has been quite surprising.

 

Who knew there was such untapped interest in human excrement disposal?

 

John (Crosley)

Because I would like to visit Cuba, I will not make any obvious jokes or comments about the government's knowing the worth of their official newspapers for the use to which they put them. I have no comment about the government of Cuba, as someday soon I hope to photograph there and do not wish to be seen as an enemy of the government.

 

So, despite the obvious temptation, I'll skip any jokes.

 

Thanks for commenting.

 

John (Crosley)

the ones who insist it rolls off of the bottom win.