the Khazi, , the
lavatory, the loo, the john, the privy, the outhouse, the shithouse, the
crapper, the dunny, the bog, the latrine, the water closet, the little boys
room, cludgie, y tŷ bach.
I block toilets.
I’ve blocked one at Central Library.
I’ve blocked one
at the Hospital where the Community Mental Health Team gather.
I’ve blocked them
in hotels and I blocked one on a bus.
If blocking
toilets was illegal, then I’d be a lifer.
I keep forgetting
about all this CCTV.
It is the ones,
that provide no brush or plunger that cause the most constipation...er...I mean
consternation.
Because dark panic
grips you after the relief of unloading when you realize that you have been
flamboyant in twirling the role on its holder.
It’s an act of
judgement and mine has always been askew.
You’re just never
sure what the house rules about ‘Blocking’ are.
Do you admit or do
you run? As a rule, I run because unless the establishment want to go down the
route of stool analysis then its very difficult to prove that it was you.
However you have
to live with the guilt and the shame.
You could call
this a kind of ‘Khazi Confessional’
I have dreams you
see about narrow u bends and about fluffy paper taken down on the backs of
amphibious labrador puppies.
Andrex, Soft, Long
and very very strong.
Bring back Izal,
Bring Back Izal.
It was shiny and
smooth and you could feel every contour of your hairy, pimply arse and
sometimes given the corresponding law of Chemistry/Physics your finger would go
through which was appropriate because it was schools which had shares in the
company.
Why am I admitting
to such dark, heinous deeds and why am I doing it in a Cape Cod American
Accent?
Well it’s one of
those things that if you suppress it to long, it turns into a watery, runny
neurosis.
When I was a
younger man
I left a trail of blocked u bends across the United States of America .
The First was in Boulder , Colorado . Home to Mork and
Mindy.
It was 1985 and I
had gone with my mate Keith to stay with many of his relatives and friends.
I remember it was
a Sunday and Marian and Tom had gone up to the mountains or the lakes and left
me and Keith to look after the house.
In American houses
you walk down to the basement and there gurgling away was the John.
I went in with my
copy of MAD magazine. I squatted and waited. I shat which is the past tense of
I shit and I wiped and I flushed. I looked down. It was blocked. Nanw, Nanw,
Shazbat!
I went upstairs
and told Keith.
He called me a
dumbarse, he’d gone all American you see.
I got the Yellow
pages. I should have used them instead.
It was twenty
three years ago but I remember the name of the guy and the company.
It was Ray from
‘Roto-Root’. Look I’m going to have to charge you $50.00 because it’s a Sunday.
$50.00 I could buy
a new toilet cheaper from Wickes.
He ascended the
stairs in his blue mask and overalls and gasped.
“What the hell did
you put down there?”
“Did a toothbrush
get stuck or something?"
“Thank you very
much indeed for coming out at such short notice”. (North
Wales Accent)
I spoke like that
in those days because I was brought up in North
Wales .
“I didn’t
understand a word you said then”
“Could you slow
down and say it again”
I waved goodbye to
Mr Raymond Roto-root and looked at Keith who had a face like a smacked arse.
There’s a theme
here aye.
Next a greyhound
bus depot was my target in El Paso .
“No Problemo”.
I came out of the
cubicle bemused and a guy in a leather jacket was combing his hair in the
mirror.
He said ‘Çan you
spare some dough’?
“I thought how
does he know”.
"How much I asked?"
"$5.00".
"No"
"Anything then".
"No"
"Why did you ask
how much then?"
"Because I’ve just
blocked another Goddamn toilet now buzz off greasball.
I’m a student from
the UK and I’m on a mission"
We stayed with
Keith’s auntie’s friends in San Diego .
We were going out
to the cinema with Cousin Carmine.
I headed to the
bathroom.
We came back from
the Cinema Complex full of dunkin donuts and cheerios and there was Uncle Buck,
he was ashen faced.
“While you were
gone, Mary used the bathroom and it overflowed. We’ve spent the night drying
out the floor. We’re a little shaken by the experience”.
I looked suitably
concerned and shook my head.
“Blocked in the
U.S.A, Blocked in the U.S.A”(a la Springsteen)
Shit, the Feds
were on to me! Men in Black were tailing the bus.
Sigmund Freud was
my constant companion on that Greyhound Bus Trip across the U.S.A.
He was saying
“Look, there will be global warming in the future and it will be your
responsibility. You are using too much paper my little Welsh friend. They won’t
be able to cut enough trees down for you”.
"But Sigi", I
replied, "they make the U bends too small. There’s not enough room for my
defecation and the paper especially if it comes out like a Mr Whippy, Nine
Coiler."
The Vernacular
proved too much. He sat back next to me on the greyhound bus. He looked
exhausted. I offered him a cigar.
He told me that I
was his most difficult patient.
I was very proud.
I blocked so many toilets on my trip to the
States I was thinking of getting them marked up on the side of the bus like the
shoot-ups on the side of the Memphis Belle.
After all these
years I have finally learnt my lesson.
Poo Plops, then
Flush, Wipe, Wipe, Flush.
Shit I’ve blocked
it again.
The next time
someone describes me as anal as they very often do. It means that I’ve blocked
their toilet.
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