Skipping to the loo…

What a little beauty the Gordonton loo is. Caz Warner investigates the public facility and finds it smells of roses and cherry blossom.

Public toilets. We’ve all met them through the years. Bare necessities in the journeys of life on the road. Who looks forward to a wee stop? Not me! (Be honest – nor do you.)

Dank, dark forbidding concrete bunkers hunkering down, waiting sullenly with cracked wet floors, empty towel dispensers, a lurking sense of ghostly “who goes there?” and the scent of … um … public loos.

Enter the traveller’s sheer relief and delight on Gordonton Road! What a little beauty. A fusty facility this is not. Here we have a tiny wooden cottage painted cream with a veranda and a pitched roof featuring a big invitation to our Country Market Day.

In the ladies’, a fragrant cheery vase of flowers. Real, not fake. Next to these, a sheet of paper and a pen – a visitor’s page for comments, and upon a quick perusal they’re full of praise: “Wow … best public toilet I’ve been in … thank you”; “lovely to see flowers”; “well done Gordonton.”

One wall is sunshine yellow and everything is oh so clean. And of course, these facilities are wheelchair friendly.

Curators of the Convenience, local folk Betty and Len, are to be congratulated on their efforts to keep our lovely lav in the manner to which it is accustomed. Len can often be seen ambling gently along the road with a fresh bunch of flowers from his garden, and Betty enjoys chatting with visitors in the carpark during her inspections. Well done to them, I say!

An award for the Best Public Loo in the land? I have no doubt that Gordonton would take pride of place on the winner’s throne!

• Caz Warner lives in the former head master’s house beside Hukanui Park.  Word wizard, artist and wise owl, Caz writes a regular column for Number 8 Network on her reflections and musings on village life. 

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