Travels in a Tin Can

restroom in case the door was already open. No, firmly locked and not
occupied, unless by someone who had been in there since before we came in
for lunch. Rather than ask the waitress again Emma had another look at the
counter, at which point a patron (evidently a regular) started gesturing and
saying 'there, the red tin'. Emma followed his directions and saw a very
battered, very silver tin with a key attached. She picked it up laughing and
exclaimed 'oh, this red tin, the silver one?' 'Yes, that's right' the locals replied
in unison, completely missing the sarcasm in my travel companion's tone. In
fairness the tin probably was red. When it was last painted. Twenty years ago.
You may think that because access was so difficult privacy while in the
restroom would at least be assured, sadly on many occasions you would be
wrong. Quite apart from the high percentage of toilets that did not have locks
at all, there were a number of other designs where protecting customers’
dignity had evidently not been considered. Often cubicle doors had large gaps
down each side, or were so low that the user could stand up and see the
whole restroom quite easily, meaning others in the room could easily look in.
The most bizarre set up was in a Texas petrol station where the restrooms
appeared to be individual - the customer could lock the main door - but they
contained two toilets. In the Gents a urinal and a normal WC, which made
some sort of sense. But in the Ladies there were two WC's - not in separate
cubicles but right next to one another. What is that about? For toilet training
(now watch me and copy...) or to allow for the nightclub phenomenon of
women going to the toilet together? Or, possibly, for Siamese twins? The toilet
doors that offered the most protection were appropriately brand-named 'Hiney
Hider'.