The Outhouse...

The most important room in any Household...

It is something we take for granted every day. We go into the smallest room in our home and sit down. Often we either read there, count the wall tiles, look out the window, hope the kids won't come in, grab the air-freshener or just strike a match. Yes, I mean the toilet ! It is mostly comfortable, warm in winter and cool in summer. When we have finished what we went in there for, we just push a button, and technology sorts out the rest.

But it was not always like this. Driving around our area, I see a lot of outside Toilets. The aptly called " Outhouse " or " Longdrop "
Nature Calls: The History, Lore, and Charm of Outhouses.
It is always within sight of the main house yet a fair distance away, possibly for any drifting aromas. Some look rather fetching and some plain and uninviting. Just like the modern toilets.

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like ( and I am sure that millions of people still only have an outside toilet ) to do a simple thing, such as going to the loo ?
Putting on your shoes, going outside and then sitting on a wooden bench that has a whole in the middle. At night time you would have needed a candle for light. Possibly a bucket of water too. As most were long-drops ( ie. a deep hole in the ground ) the smell must have been overpowering. No lingering in there !

My uncle told me a while ago, that when they were young, their house in town, had a Longdrop toilet ( the last room on the outside of the house ) and that in winter fun and games ensued. Apparently, when it was freezing any offerings to said toilet, would freeze. Sometimes a pile of frozen eh ' stuff ' would grow upwards.... So they had to first boil water and pour it down the hole, to melt...!

Just thinking of the easy life we have, makes me extremely grateful everytime I go to the loo. I also wonder if and how I would have coped with a Longdrop ? Next time you visit your " little " room, just pause and consider the alternative.

Biggi

Room with a view

As I was taking this picture, a deer wondered behind it...

Have a look at the ventilation on top of the door !