h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tomorrow's World say that each unit costs £17,850. Seems a bit costly for a urinal!

Well...... it is VERY Shiney!

I expect that's why....

Reading's getting two of the things!!! It's all very bizarre....

Indeed it is.
How about changing the title to "Reading's Raising Urinal", and starting the first paragraph with something like:

"In Reading, a town with an expanding nightlife, a peculiar problem has arisen. Due to the lack of public toilets in the city centre area, drunk men were beginning to get into the habbit of urinating against walls, causing not only bad smells and unpleasant sites, but also erosion. The solution? A surprisingly simple, but effective, Dutch idea; the UriLift."

I'd also expand on where the UriLift is located.

<BB<

Why don't you fill it in? I gave you the access right...



Ooo... look! They made me a Gnu!
*polishes bagde*

*too busy ing at the idea of talking to a Fish who thinks he's a Gnu about a urinal that hides underground until it gets dark, to actually say anything!*

*Is reminded just how funny it ACTUALLY is....

.....and can't stop ing....!
Thanks I'M'

Why not for now include this at the beginning:



<BB<

Thanks BB...

.... I think....

I thought it perfectly illustrated the point...

<BB<

Well..... Yes...

Here's a re-write of the pop-up loo article: Feel free to make changes. All we need now is more Reading-related information, as can be found in Reading papers - ie, about Friar St., Broad Street, and other Reading locations. I'd also consider moving all the links into REFERENCES tags.

The article:

In Reading, a town with an expanding nightlife, a peculiar problem has arisen. Due to the lack of public toilets in the city centre area, drunk men were beginning to get into the habbit of urinating against walls, causing not only bad smells and unpleasant sites, but also erosion. The solution? A surprisingly simple, but effective, Dutch idea; the UriLift.

In the past, councils have tried to solve the problem by providing temporary, often plastic, urinal stands. These, often used only at weekends, allowed those in desperate need to relieve themselves with somewhere to go without resorting to the outside of buildings, but had their disadvantages.
Often, the area in which the plastic urinals were kept were busy with shoppers and others in the city centre during the day, where they were not only an unattractive eyesore, but also likely to smell; those toilets have to be physically emptied of their waste, which, as the toilets are only temporary and not attached to water mains, is not flushed away.
Not only that, but, in the case of the toilets only in use during weekends, there was the added problem of having to assemble the toilets at the beginning of the weekend, disassembling them at the end, and storing them the rest of the time. All this meant a lot of money and a lot of effort over a problem which had a simple solution; the pop-up loo.

Pop-up toilets
The UriLift was designed to solve the ever increasing problem of being caught shortNeeding the toilet at night and not having anywhere to go, and so using side alleys or building to "go" on.

Marco Schimmel, a Dutch toilet designer who has successfully fitted the toilets in 8 Dutch cities, came up with a high-tech answer to the problem; the pop-up loo. The toilet is a stainless steel urinal that, during the day, fits in a 1.3 metre deep hole beneath the pavement and is as conspicuous as any other manhole. At night, between 9pm and 10pm,Men in green jackets from the council drive up and operate it so that there isn't the chance an old granny could be trapped on top of it at the time! on the operation of its remote control, it rises hydraulically
to become an easily visible urinal. Then at around 6am it goes back down, out of site.
As the toilet is connected to the sewage system, electricity and water mains it never needs emptying. It also boasts an in-built automatic flush and cleaning system. It is lit, and even heated. Although the cost to build a pop-up loo to spend a penny is a staggering £17,850, it is hoped that the Uri-lifts will save
money in the long-term through low maintenance costs.
If Reading's new loo is successful, many more cities in the UK will use pop-up loos on their streets.

Reading's Uri-Lift was showcased to the British Public on "Tomorrow's World" on the 20th of March 2002