A collection of random toilets
Text&Image Livia Aimee Kofler
Have you ever thought about how many toilets you have
encountered in your life?
Knowing there is a toilet around makes me feel safe and secure.
When I was in Kyrgyzstan with my mother and her boyfriend from Berlin, we were on a road trip through the countryside close to Bishkek and the streets were so bumpy and my bladder so weak, that I had to tell our family friend who was driving the car to stop every 30 minutes. I felt very embarrassed.
As a proud anthropologist, I argue that research on lavatorial facilities holds significant importance within the realm of anthropological discourse. Respectfully, Mary Douglas wrote an entire book on dirt. Enough said I think.
Writing all of this makes me think about my choice of writing about toilets in this magazine. What will people think? I will definitely put this into my portfolio. It shows I'm quirky, I'm sure employers will appreciate that.
I moved a lot as a kid. In our third or so apartment, the one which was located right opposite the disco (I call it disco because ‘club’ would be too much of a stretch - it was after all in the middle of nowhere in an Austrian village named Lieserbrücke). Anyway, in that apartment we had one of these toilets with a decorated seat. You know the seashell ones. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I think about that toilet a lot.
From when I was little, my mom told me to never sit on public toilets, she told me I have to squat. I still do this every time. I talked to my friends, they say they don’t squat.
Toilets, probably one of the few things we all really need in life. Inevitable.
We take toilets for granted until we are somewhere, having to hold our pee, with no toilet in sight. In remembrance of the many times I had to sneak into restaurants to go for a quick piss.
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