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

It used to be longer: until FDR's second inauguration in 1937, inauguration happened in early March so an incoming president-elect would have 5 months to mess around.

It must be some sort of US trait. I give you Handegball. A 60 minute game stretched out to three hours.

The US is a big country. I suspect that all events need to be stretched out in time to fill all the space.

PP.

People who don't flush the piggin' toilet after themselves.

Nasty if you don't expect it, but it conserves water.

It is said, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down." (And if your poo's yellow, you've got problems ) Either way, if I'm sharing a toilet with strangers, I prefer to flush. Water conservation has its place, but there are limits. Besides, flushing is an automatic thing - for me, anyway.

Ah, but there are......floaters!

PP.

If it's concern for the environment that motivates it, I'd rather people left their car at home and flushed the toilet when required.

"If it's yellow, leave it for a bit, but flush it away if it smells like ###t"

Some don't float, more like submarines than boats

Not being able to warm up properly despite extra layers and heating

If I'm home-alone I'll happily pee all day into the bowl without flushing, rather than pour litres of perfectly good drinking water down he drain. However the wife can't stand so much as a piece of toilet paper in the toilet

It's worth noting that disgust is often a conditioned response. Urine is a pretty harmless substance, has many historic uses, and is usually sterile when it leaves the body. We in the modern West are just brought up to find it disgusting.

Poo on the other hand can cause real harm and should indeed be flushed away as soon as possible

but wee is smelly - and that's what most people object to.

Quite! The handle on the cistern isn't there for the cool noise it makes. Crap has many historical uses too, but I don't particularly want to examine everybody's.

Well yes; I certainly prefer the bouquet of my own than anyone else's vintage

Mrs PP ALWAYS leaves just the one sheet of paper in the (flushed) loo. There must be a reason for it. It's probably a lady reason and for that reason I'm not going to ask because it is None Of My Business.

PP.

If she's anything like me, she rips one sheet off and gives the loo seat a wipe, not because it's dirty but well, because your naked flesh has been sitting on it so she knows the next person to use the loo will have a clean seat!

Regarding wee being smelly - it shouldn't be. If you drink enough (water-based, not alcohol), your wee should be almost clear and certainly not smelly. If it's yellow and smelly, you're dehydrated.

I can understand that Dea...but why can't you do that and THen press the flush?

Even stagnant water smells. Stagnant urine smells for the same reasons, no matter how sterile it is at the point of exit and no matter how much has been passed.

True, though, if your pee is yellow and pongs when you pass it, you could have any number of problems.

I honestly didn't expect such a response to such a petty hate.

It's actually one of my petty hates, too, especially at the office. At least once a day I walk into a commode where someone's left either a wet seat (how does that happen in the ladies' room, where everyone pees sitting down?) or a massive skid mark.

I wish just one of my flatmates would learn to replace the toilet paper when it's empty, or, for that matter, buy it once in a while...