Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Angus and Mearns Matters: Thoughts of convenience are sometimes just plain potty

Post Thumbnail

A figure whose mission was fun rather than fear had this young Letham lad running for cover behind the settee every time he appeared on the box.

Whether it was his lumbering figure, his unmistakeable voice or an aversion to red Moroccan headwear I can’t recall, but Tommy Cooper gave me the heebie jeebies.

Just Like That.

A few years later, the early Daleks had the same effect and I’ve never liked Doctor Who since.

And in a quantum leap from the sci-fi telly galaxy that’s why I admit to having a hand in the downfall of the superloo.

For a while the hi-tech toilets stood like something Tom Baker might have met in an episode set on the streets of Angus, the door waiting to silently slide open for the next 20p-wielding victim to step inside.

A couple of times in moments of cross-legged desperation I braved the 20th Century cludgie that was the Automatic Public Convenience.

Not knowing if I’d be teleported back in time once the plastic shell had its prey inside.

Or whether a power failure would leave me trapped in a paper towel tardis.

Or – worst of all – if a rogue machine with a mind of its own would open its door and leave me exposed like some poor man’s thinking Rodin on a white plastic seat.

As a money-maker APC’s were a disaster; but as an aide to getting the job done in a jiffy their laxative powers were out of this world.

But the number ones and twos of the space-aged lavvies were up when fifteen grand a year was being spent to run them for a return of less than £200 from barely a trickle of daily visitors. (All Doctor Who fans, I bet)

So while I applaud the positive response to calls from the public for loos to be reinstated at Forfar Loch after years of closing down and selling off public conveniences across Angus, I hope there’s a more substantial flow of customers to new toilets into which £40,000 of town Common Good cash is about to be pumped.

In the world of spending a penny, it would seem that nothing’s cheap.