I also would say that the most profound grafitti can be found above a urinal. Actually an interesting question for you...
How come toilets are full of graffi? firstly when I go for a pee, I don't have the foresight to carry a pen! and secondly does one take the pee first and then wap out the pen and start righting, write whilst holding on as it were letting the creativity spark from ones urgent requirement to pee, or finally and probably most risky option, relieve ones body and mind simultaneously?
At Imperial College London, on the 3rd floor of the fluid mechanics sections (I think) of the library there is a loo, and inscribed two questions...
1. Is my urine flow first laminar then turbulent?
2. Why was I polite enough to use the word urine?
Luckily it was Imperial and someone had answered the questions
1A. Because the flow first velocity driven and then becomes diffusion driven thus it turns from jet to plume.
2A. Because you (and I) are both either Chinese or Middle Class White nerds.
An Interview with BVS (the Bratislava Water Company)
The Peanut Society of Lucubrators interviews Zenon Mikle, Head of Communications at the Bratislava Water Company
PSofL: What is your organisation responsible for?
ZM: Bratislava Water Company (BVS) is responsible for the operation of the water and wastewater systems of Bratislava and its surrounding area. The supply of safe and wholesome drinking water to a population of over 600,000 is one of the core responsibilities of BVS. In other words, our responsibility is to guarantee our customers a constant supply of good quality drinking water from taps and to finally return this water to nature after it has been consumed, treated and purified.
PSofL: How good is the water quality in Bratislava?
ZM: Bratislava is lucky to have one of the best water qualities. Groundwater source “Žitný ostrov” by the river Danube is the drinking water source of the highest quality and is the biggest natural groundwater source in Central Europe.
PSofL: I've never been into a sewer, what is it like?
ZM: Maybe it will seem unbelievable but me neither [smiles]. But if you come to Bratislava again I can arrange a visit for you down into the sewers.
PSofL: What is the biggest challenge that the BVS faces at the moment?
ZM: Our biggest challenge is to keep the water pipes from cracking, especially at this time of year when the weather and temperature are changing.
PSofL: Can toilets be beautiful?
ZM: They sure may seem beautiful if you really need one... [smiles]
PSofL: Your favourite Slovakian saying?
ZM: I don’t know if it is a Slovak saying but I like “Nothing is black and white, it’s all shades of grey.”
PSofL: What is the best thing about Bratislava?
ZM: Bratislava is one of the youngest capitals in Europe, but it has a very rich history. The capital of the Slovak Republic lays in the heart of Europe, on the banks of Danube river and its geopolitical location is great. It is located at the borders of Austria and Hungary and close to the borders of the Czech Republic.
PSofL: What projects does the BVS have in store for the future?
ZM: The modernisation of wastewater treatment plants according to EU standards.
PSofL: Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. We salute you and your initiatives!
*
The Peanut Society of Lucubrators admires the work of the Bratislavská vodárenská spoločnosť (BVS) since the metaphors of toilets and sewers are one of our special interest areas. Why? The sewer is a symbol of individual insouciance. Deeper still, the bathroom is crucial for writers in the vanguard of creative isolation. How many ephemeral ideas are conjured up when breathing in the steam from your shower, for example? Many. So water providers, as a side-effect, are supporting the pantothenic growth of new ideas. That is important work.
Focusing on the Bratislava Water Company through this interview also enables our audient readers to discover, imagine and conceptualise a city from a unique and unexpected perspective, and to be alerted to the constant effort that goes on underground to keep society functioning.
Special thanks to O.D.
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Comments: Interview with the BVS (Bratislava Water Company)
Graffii
Date: 11/04/2013 | By: Imperialite
Re: Graffii
Date: 14/04/2013 | By: Peanut Lucubrator
Dear Sir, thank you for sharing your fine observational memory. Your reflections and Imperial College anecdote tickled me severely. It's sensible dialogue that deserves a sensible answer.
I'm usually one to have a pen with me, though not the requisite marker pen, so I appreciate your confusion. “Who goes into a toilet with a marker pen?” The answer is Mr.1in100 (or 1in50 in the case of stickers – a proliferating form of lavatorial decoration, particularly among nightclub promoters). I like the idea that it's simultaneous – a release of inspiration as one's eyes roll back in relief, the point when the hand will write semi-automatically in a true melting of mind and body; a trance, like the opposite of falling.
Much is to be admired in a physiological way of scribbling on a shiny wall/door (or the electricity box, which is also a satisfactory writing surface). Why do people do it? I suggest that the toilet-writing phenomenon is the precursor to social media – a manifestation of the latent desire to reach out to strangers, to share our consciousness with the anonymous friend who might strike us with unexpected advice. This is the fantasy of disconnected friendship that internet sites haven't entirely emulated; hence the widespread sentimentality for the toilet-scrawled aphorism, the trouser-down cry for help, the eye-level quip, the shared flash of wicked nonsense or banality, the invitation of the question. We respect both the chaos of the stranger's answer and the mystery that the wall lends to it. The practice of toilet writing is a shadowed form of daydreaming. It's human. There's nothing less disconcerting.