Forever grateful for modern plumbing and toilets. 
1 Like
when I was in the army (long before most here were born - Custer was still a Colonel ) the EM shared the Latrine (toilet). It was Horrible. I don’t care to imagine the Romans in their shared loos, thank you. My experience stills gives me PTSD nightmares .
2 Likes
Wow. That would have definitely been an experience you would rather forget.
Thanks for sharing, Marvin.
Many years ago, I was backpacking in China. In a small village in the middle of nowhere, I arrived a bit late, looking for food (none to be found) and mainly, I really needed to 
. I finally found someone on the street, managed to make them understand that I was looking for a toilet. They just pointed at the central square, best described like a village green, where everyone just pooped in plain view of everyone else… it was an experience.
2 Likes
Wow… Thanks for sharing. It definitely sounds like an experience, that’s for sure. 
In 1991 I did a Contiki tour of Russia and Central Europe. The public toilets in rural Russia were far from ideal. One memory that stands out was the toilets at the border crossing with Finland. The lady’s cubicles didn’t have doors. We stood in the communal area, with the taps etc. A local lady came in and stood with arms crossed leaning against the wall in front of one of the cubicles. Welcome, to Russia.
2 Likes
I worked in Ukraine in 1975, on a large construction site. We lived in construction trailers and had trailers for toilets and washing! In winter, the toilet trailer would freeze solid—it was unusable! A pit was dug behind the toilet trailer, and a beam was placed across it. Men and women would sit on that beam—completely exposed—to relieve themselves! We were young…!
1 Like
I would also like to add that we were young Germans who helped with the reconstruction work, using spades. Many friendships formed between Ukrainians and Germans, and marriages even came about!
1 Like
Apart from the frozen toilet beam (that must have been COLD on the butt), that’s a really heartwarming story. I didn’t know there were such exchanges at the time between Ukraine and I presume Eastern Germany. Fantastic! Do you happen to have pictures from back then that you’d be willing to share? I’m curious.
1 Like
No, unfortunately I don’t have any photos; taking pictures was prohibited. It concerns the construction of the Druzhba natural gas pipeline. I found a short YouTube video about it.
1 Like