Station approach - new toilet

[sydres]

When is this work going to be finished - does somebody know? The area around the toilet has been fenced off for weeks now with no activity.

[Chris Best]

Council officers told me it would be a month or so from the arrival of the w.c. as we are waiting on Thames Water giving a date for connecting up the water supply plus the electicity to be reinstated. Yes it is frustrating and the notice board needs to be returned to site. I was hoping it would all be complete for the return of the market this Saturday.

[Rachael]

Apologies up-front for derailing this thread with a severe case of pedantry, but this drives me MAD:

We are waiting FOR Thames Water.

If we were waiting ON them, we would be waiters.

(My entire Northern Irish family says 'waiting on'. I've ground my teeth to stumps in an effort not to correct them. Hence my inability to say nowt here.)

Right, sorry, as you were.

[Robin Orton]

Thanks, Rachael, for steering this thread away from the lavatorial and towards things that really matter.

My researches suggest that 'waiting on', meaning 'waiting for', tends to be a dialectal form rather than standard in both Britain and Ireland and in the USA. But it is found in literary English too - the OED gives examples from 1697 ('we were forced to wait on him above half an hour') and from John Buchan in The Thirty Nine Steps ('he... raised his placid eyebrows and waited on me to speak.')

[Rachael]

Oh well, I shall just have to put it down as something that grates on my ear and none other.

[I hammer]

Due to the economic climate, we are tightening our belts, and not spending a penny.

[Steveofsyd]

Any news on Station approach or the roadworks by Lloyds Bank?
Excuses about blockages or Toilet delays are pathetic after all this time...
What's happening with the construction opposite the Chippie?

[mosy]

On Station Approach, workmen were in operation sorting out the pavement. I asked one if the new toilet was in its final position, i.e. stuck in the middle of the pavement; they confirmed it to be so. I had hoped its position was temporary until whatever water connections were done (per Chris Best's post) but, no, that's where it will be.

It's a personal opinion, but stuck there it looks worse than the building it replaced which was at least more discreetly sitting back against the wall. Unless there is some magic landscaping plan that blends it into its surroundings, I think I'd rather have the old one back - and that's saying something

[mosy]

Just wandered past the new Station Approach loo. About 1/5th of the new paving stones have been laid and I'm sure a fine job will be done) however I cannot help but notice the approx one-foot gap between the loo box and the railway retaining wall and I guess it'd be no surprise what that could be used for. Also, it (the loo box) still doesn't seem to be set level to me (hence I thought it was a temporary placing) as if falling towards the wall. Might be my eyesight and I wouldn't notice that once completed, but I'd sure as heck notice a black box stuck in the middle of a walkway - especially after all the efforts to get rid of street furniture. Maybe it's meant to look like a Tardis has just materialised...

[Pally]

It's very ugly, sadly!

[Steveofsyd]

Tardis? More like a TURDis...those too Penny-pinching (puns intended) to use will surely relieve themselves in the gap behind it.

[MissBee]

Whenever it is finished, it is a terrible eyesore and clearly, very little thought has been put into the aesthetics. Disappointing.

[mosy]

I'm struggling to figure out how the loo box was planned that way, at all. Initially, there was a plan for the Sydenham Road bit of wall to be removed and have steps down instead, which was abandoned as the steps would have had to be shallower at one side so prone to accidents. However, if that had gone ahead, the "grand" staircase would have walked you straight into the loo. If, OTOH, it was decided with the wall staying put, then there's no logic at all for having them stuck there. Beats me.

[Pally]

I'm struggling to figure out how the loo box was planned that way, at all. Initially, there was a plan for the Sydenham Road bit of wall to be removed and have steps down instead, which was abandoned as the steps would have had to be shallower at one side so prone to accidents. However, if that had gone ahead, the "grand" staircase would have walked you straight into the loo. If, OTOH, it was decided with the wall staying put, then there's no logic at all for having them stuck there. Beats me.

I agree, even ignoring the ugliness the siting is just daft!

[sydres]

Now the paving is finished how about some planting to brighten up this area?

[Pally]

Now the paving is finished how about some planting to brighten up this area?

Good idea. Anything to draw attention away from that toilet

[Nigel]

Sorry to raise this again - have just taken a look this morning - they are bloody awful and I can see what people mean .
I am reminded of Lee's comments about those ugly benches in the pocket squares , all that work to improve the approach road then someone obviously spends hours looking for precisely the right toilet block to spoil it .

Some trees would help (there should be some anyway) to hide it and soften the whole thing .

Grand Designs it ain't

A very good afternoon
Nigel

[Pally]

Sorry to raise this again - have just taken a look this morning - they are bloody awful and I can see what people mean .
I am reminded of Lee's comments about those ugly benches in the pocket squares , all that work to improve the approach road then someone obviously spends hours looking for precisely the right toilet block to spoil it .

Some trees would help (there should be some anyway) to hide it and soften the whole thing .

Grand Designs it ain't

A very good afternoon
Nigel

Every time I walk past, which is regularly, I am stunned by how bad it is a...it really is unbelievable that it was ever agreed!! We have lovely signs in Kirkdale, some nice shop fronts, some less so, some great new paving all through Sydenham plus pocket squares, a newly refurbished area all round the station approach potentially the Greyhound returning and various other things that are developing nicely ...plus a black box competitor for the most unattractive toilet block in London I suspect ...and that is even before it is in use........I am also wondering when it will actually be possible to use it a...it has now been sitting there with torn white plastic across the door for at least 2 weeks and I think rather more!

[mosy]

Riney as always have done a sterling job with the paving stones. Someone (not me) looking at it wondered if the the loo box would flood from rainwater running down the slope straight into it - that remains to be seen.

Maybe we could get Banksy to depict the image of a Hackney carriage as apparently it's still legal as the driver to relieve oneself against the wheels of same. Because, I've spotted "suspicious" trails already so, if nothing else, time is of the essence in getting it open methinks.

Not that I'd use it being claustrophobic and, on a lighter note, having seen that CSI episode where a criminal tampered with the water inflow and lock so that the unsuspecting user drowned inside

Apols for sarcasm but I find it impossible to treat it seriously.

[parker]

A hole in the ground would've been better than this...