"I know, having visited York, that you come away thinking nice Minster - shame about the toilets'." Richard Chisnell, Director of the British Toilet Association.
Above is Splash Palace - as York's Public Conveniences are known locally. I've always thought they were OK as far as public toilets go, but apparently no-one else agrees. So this building in Parliament Street will be flattened next year and the debate is on as to what, if anything, should be built in its place. An opportunity to showcase what the town has to offer there, thinks the York Tourist Board. Whereas others think it will open up the town centre if nothing is there. New public toilets will be round the corner near Newgate Market.
On to toilets in Bury St Edmunds. Where do I start? Here is a town where there is major toilet trouble. The old main public loos were knocked down as part of a project to build a new shopping centre. New temporary loos were set up in portakabins, right next to where building work is going on, meaning there is now quite a hike from Bury's current town centre to go to the lav. This has caused lots of complaints, and dissatisfaction that the council is effectively moving the town centre from its age old location to where the new shopping development is. Toilets are but one aspect of that particular story.
Ruby is in Bury St Edmunds for the week, where she formerly lived and blogged. This post is part of a series to run until her return to York, comparing the two towns.
The army recruiting team were in York for the recent residents' festival, with a climbing wall that moved on a conveyor belt sort of set up - so you could climb and climb but never get to the top. It could be tilted forwards and backwards to vary the gradient too.
This was going on for a large part of Saturday morning at the Residents' Festival, with various bystanders lured out of the crowd to don a Sumo costume and wrestle. I should have volunteered. It would have been a good way of keeping warm. Live coverage of events was going out on Minster FM.
There's a Facebook group I've been enjoying recently, called You Know You're From York When ... and number one on the list is "you meet up at the fountain." Above, is The Fountain. No-one meeting there on the day I took this pic, Monday at around 10am. It was way too chilly!
"I know, having visited York, that you come away thinking nice Minster - shame about the toilets'." Richard Chisnell, Director of the British Toilet Association.
