IATO's [Interesting Australian Toilet Observations]

Well I'm not going to write about the whole Northern vs Southern Hemisphere and the rotation of flow in the toilets. In actual fact, toilets in Australia seem to go straight down and have no circular flow at all! What is amazing about toilets here is there are TWO choices for flush. Choice #1 is the "Half Flush" and is designed for a "Number One". It gives the bowl a decent cleaning, but it's not the full thing. The reasoning behind it is to conserve water as Australians have been in a drought for the last 10 years or so! Choice #2 is the "Full Flush", and is designed for ... well you know ... "Number Two". This thing gives the full bowl cleaning. My motto goes back to my childhood days at Bowen Island "When it's yellow, let it mellow [Choice #1]. When it's brown, flush it down [Choice #2]".

Choice #1 - The Half Flush ..... Choice #2 - The Full Flush

Other bathroom things I've noticed is that urinals are urino-where in Australia. Reason again may be with the Water Conservation Strategy, most men's washrooms just have troughs. The big long ditch in the ground that you "Number One" in. It's actually really awkward as there are no set boundaries for men when they pee. Someone can come up and rub elbows with you. I'm not a big fan. "Give me some freaking space", "You can't pee in my part of the trough", "THAT'S MY SHOE!!!". The only troughs that I can remember in BC are at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, and the Boom Boom Room (aka Sketchy McSketchville) in Victoria.

One of the many "Troughs"

Oh yah, but don't ask for the bathroom or the washroom ... you'll get a blank stare. Just get straight to the point ... TOILET.

On another note.... Max stopped by today. Max was the kid who's cell phone I found on Sunday. He was about 15 years old, and was very very thankful. To show his gratitude, he got me a box of Swiss Chocolates. Nice touch! "Milk, Hazelnut, Dark and White Swiss Chocolates with Delectably Smooth Centres" .... Thank you Max!!! Kinda ironic that Max got me Swiss Chocolates

Kinda ironic that Max got me Swiss Chocolates..... (only a couple ppl will get that)

Jacques

Me and Jacque flashing the "W" for West Coast...... that's what they do here ..... literally!

Well, I headed out for about 2 hours on the bike today. The pedal has remained on.... for now. With incident #1 now behind me, I decided it was time to officially name my bike. I decided to name him after the previous owner ... Jacques. However there is one condition. I can only speak French to him "Por Favor". I'm loving Jacques. I can't believe how fast you can get around on a road bike with such little effort. I'm not sure why I was always wasting away on a mountain bike. What a waste.

While heading off for a bike ride earlier in the day, I came across a mobile phone (that's what they call cell phones) up near the curb in the street. I picked it up went through the address book, and snooped around for a bit. Found out the owners name was Max. Then figured the best person to call was "Linda - Mum". She was very happy to get a call from her "son". He had lost the phone a couple days ago when he headed off for a trip. Their home was exactly where I found the phone. It was lucky that batteries weren't dead yet.

The only guy who could get on his board

I biked down to Cott Beach in the afternoon and spent a lazy couple hours there. Took some photos of surfers. After looking through the photos, it seems like there is one guy who just keeps repeating. There were about 30 surfers out there, but I guess only the good ones actually get up on their boards.

I headed back in the evening to catch another sunset. Life is tough.