International Musings

Well, today is a sad day. Today, we found out the result of the Brexit referendum. Still. An upper lip as stiff as one's whisky, what?

The Privy Counsel is an international community of intellectuals (with emphasis, sometimes, on "international" rather than "intellectuals"). Our contributors and friends come from all sorts of countries, and all sorts of backgrounds. If it were not for the EU, the Privy Counsel would not exist.

And international we shall remain. And also inclusive, open-minded, and determined to fight hate with the weapons available to us - our humour, our intellects, and our hearts.

Here's how we actually feel. Or, as Laurie Penny put it, "All I can think of is: I will love fiercer, I will work harder, I will write faster, I will not give in to fear".

We have some delightful inclusive and international toilets to admire today, courtesy of Audiologist Friend, who writes:

Tror inte jag besökt en mindre toalett än denna! Lite utedass-känsla när en inte får spola ner pappret (servetter?!) i toan. Danmarks hippaste grød-matställe. Det heter Grød!

(Don't think I have visited a smaller toilet than this one! Kind of an outdoor-privy kind of feeling, when one can't flush the toilet paper (napkins?!) down the toilet. Denmark's hippest grød eatery. It's called Grød!)

A polite sign, representing the courtesy we strive towards encouraging at the Privy Counsel.

A seriously shit tap, highly reminiscent of the kind of typical British tap that makes all right-thinking people gnash their teeth in frustration and nourish fervent hopes that British people would a) travel more widely in countries that have functioning plumbing - perhaps even work or study in one, thanks to the EU's facilitation of work migration, and b) adopt functioning plumbing in their own country.

Another polite - and urgent - sign. This reminds us of toilets in countries like India, or Greece.
where one often can't flush toilet paper.

A sad receptable of refuse, shoved into a corner - a metaphor for Britain's political future?

We have heard of establishments serving porridge taking over London's gentrified areas, and are of course delighted that they now fortify and sustain the hard-working hipsters of Copenhagen, too.

Staying with today's focus on internationalism, here is a message from Semi-Intellectual Friend:

How have you not got a hand on this article?

That is of course a very good question, and one that we are woefully ill-equipped to answer. We are pleased, however, to note that the toilet in Þórsmörk, Iceland, mentioned in the article, is one that Audiologist Friend has kindly sent us pictures from in the past.

Let's finish off with an international greeting from German Friend, who kindly sent us a useful yet decorative (one of our favourite combinations!) calendar featuring toilets from around the world last Christmas:

"A clean bathroom speaks well of its user."

People seem to have been posting rather a lot of Sex Pistols videos on social media today, leading us to select one for today's Festive Video, primarily due to the words "There is no future, and England's dreaming". Still, let's remember those other words as well.

We're off now, to drink ourselves into a stupor for the rest of the afternoon. Happy midsummer's eve!

Festive Video - The Sex Pistols, God Save the Queen


Related Reading
Audiologist Friend's report from Þórsmörk: Þórsmörk, Iceland: Some Light Relief
All posts featuring Audiologist Friend
All posts featuring Semi-Intellectual Friend
All posts featuring German Friend