The Other Human Right
This weekend I went to the Nobel Peace Center.
So I know there are a thousand more important things I could write about today- but I'll leave those subjects for rumination tomorrow on UN Day and instead, today, whinge about the human right to pee.
I'm not being as impertinent as you may think.
After getting off the train at the central station in Oslo I began looking for a bathroom. I finally found one on the second floor around the corner from a cafe.
It was being cleaned, so I had to wait. I sat at the cafe and drank a cup of coffee (yeah, I know, that wasn't the smartest thing to do). When I went back the cleaning personnel were gone, but the door was closed and the lock required 10 kroner. 10 kroner- that's one US dollar .fifty!
To pee!
And I know the rooms aren't that clean.
A childish form of protest, I know, because the city of Oslo certainly couldn't be less concerned about the stress on my bladder, but I refused to pay.
Thus began an hour-long hunt for a public restroom at 8:30 a.m. (a full 90 minutes before the stores open). I seriously began to look for thick foliage (not easy to find in autumn).
The irony is that on the train into town I'd been reading an article in the newspaper outlining the debate surrounding the subsidized sex toys for handicapped people. In a country with socialized medicine, whether good sex is a human right is a serious question.
I'm not going to get into my own opinion about this debate, but I will say that if a country can afford vibrators and consider subsidizing sexologists for paraplegics, they should make sure that the poor (or just momentary-coinless) can relieve themselves in a legal facility.
I am serious. Sanitation is a sign of civilization and in a developed country proper facilities should be available free of charge.
And there is more to this discussion. The book 365 Ways to Change the World talks about the importance of proper latrines for the health of individuals in rural communities. It costs so little to wipe out diseases like trachoma. (Dig a latrine and save someone's sight- who'd have dreamed?)
Don't get me wrong: I am ever so thankful for my eyesight, my arms and legs and even my sexlife. But I still don't think I should have to pay $1.50 to pee!
(And now I've probably used the word pee so many times it will come up in the tag cloud. Classy.)
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8 kommentarer:
what ? subsized sex toys ! i got to move to norway . lol.
it must be cool to visit the nobel prize center . the name nobel is means excellence and peace .
i wonder what warren buffet's legacy will be ? even bill gates. ?
Thanks for bringing up Warren Buffet- I haven't heard of him. Guilt does make good philanthropist occasionally, yes?
London is getting very good for public loos and in Manchester they make the old ones into bars.
I recommend the railway stations if you ever go to London - only 20p(ee!) but avoid places like museums because the queues are enormous
That's a book waiting to be written (if it hasn't been already) - a world guide to good public conveniences.
It's an important point you're making here, though. Good conveniences are important.
what a funny dilemma. well told! :D
did the cafe not have a toilet? under normal legislation, a premises serving food for consumption on the premises has to provide facilities for their customers.
part of the trouble with developed countries is the dichotomy between social welfare and market place. you take the view that the facilities should be free but the city might take a capitalist view - or somewhere in-between.
but it does seem a lot for a two-minute pee (I'm just doing my maths now...erm, that's $45 per hour!! inc. materials) but you're only going to pay once so it doesn't seem a lot for a day's comfort and dry pants. ;o)
Classy? Yes, you are!
A friend and I, when we were travelling in Switzerland and London, had our own litle rating system for all the public toilets we visited. (Scale of 1 - 10). Made going to public toilets fun. Can't imagine how we would have rated a toilet charging US$1.50. (Must have been a 10 at that price, with gold plated seats?) When I convert to Trinidad & Tobago $$, that's roughly $9! Hefty!
I've been to this toilet :) granted Oslo is a very expensive city, but 10 10kr did raise my eyebrows. The toilet that I went in to was ... horrible. Granted it's in a place where thousands of people pass through every day. But for 10kr a head, the caretakers should really get to work!
Public toilets? Now that you mention it, I've never seen them here in Norway... Not in the 6-7 months I've been here.
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