Snjezana | January 16, 2025 | Vrijeme čitanja: 5 min.

From my point of view

my first blog

intro to toodaloo

Considering this as a first blog – 30.07.2018

Being a woman, I often find myself looking for the LOO. It is not the same, as it is for a man. I grow up in Zagreb, Croatia. Spend my youth walking through the city, over the Cmrok, Gornji Grad, Tuškanac, Jarun, back then there were no public toilets nowhere. I am not sure they have them now?! I remember the story of my husband’s aunt. She used to live in the centre of Zagreb, and told us that some of their friend when he goes to the open market, he will just pop in to the loo!

We used to go to the summer holiday at the seaside, again the same story – no public toilets. Ye, okey we pee into the sea, but sometimes you need more than just pee.

Wouldn’t be nice to have a loo at a playground, park. When you stay whole afternoon in a park with kids and you or them can pee in a civilised manner, in the loo!

As a landscape-gardener I have always worked in client’s gardens, parks, hotel’s gardens, countryside, at the building site, in the middle of nowhere, so outside. Not in a nice office, warm in the Winter, cool in the Summer. For me it was more often cold and windy in the Winter, hot and windy in the Summer, both without convenient toilets.

Photo: 30.06.2018. Italy Annual party under the hangar. I liked that sign very much!! ????

I never felt comfortable asking clients to use their toilets, until it was necessary. Some grannies would offer me one though and for that I am still thankful.

My husband never had that problem, like all men, he would pee behind the tree if needed. Behind a car, in the bushes. Mind you, I would go into the bushes, but if you want to hide behind a bush, you can be sure that some dry grass will poke you into your butt. Or you will lay your tender part of the butt onto leaves of a stinging nettle, or some large leaves sharp as a sandpaper. Uffaaa! If you move just a bit to the left or to the right, you are out in the open and you quickly move back your soft butt back again onto the sand-paper leaf.

I live now in Istria, Croatia and still they are only few public toilets. My town only one! To be fair they have them more at the beaches, but they are open in the Summer only.

That is why I become obsessed with toilets! Wherever I go, restaurants, bars, parks, museums, shopping centres, first I look for the Loo!

Photos: 20.01.2019. Barcelona, Spain

Photos: 20.11.2021 Malta. Two different bars. On the first sign somebody had some imagination, on second one clearly not! But still I founded it cute ????

My job today took me in slightly different direction, with more traveling involved. Mostly to Italy. With a different job, we have started earning a few bucks more, so my hubby and I, sometimes with friends, visited few places.

We’ve been in more restaurants, museums, bars, and I paid visit to more toilets.

I started to pay attention to the toilets. The size of a toilet, signs on the door, cleanness, how is fitted out. Coming out from the toilets, I started commenting about them to my husband and my friends. After my few comments they were waiting on my report on the toilet!

When we were out to a short business trip, I would take a photo of a toilet and sent them to my friends. Shortly after that they’ve been asking for more photos of toilets!

Toilets are mix of joy ????, disappointment, nerve wracking, crying, urgent needs, great ideas. They deserve attention. In my opinion they are worth of writing about.

Photo: 01.11.2021. Florence, Italy

Photo: 17.10.2018. Pistoia, Italy

Photo: 25.09.2021. Perugia, Italy

Photo: 18.11.2021. Birgu, Malta

That is how the idea of writing a blog started.

So here I am. I have never written a book, or a story, but I decided to start writing about toilets. Some people will find disgusting writing, even more, reading about them, but I find them very important in my life.

Photo: 02.11.2021. Pistoia, Italy Very well equipped.

Photo:05.08.2018. Zadar, Croatia

I have written all above in 2018, when the first idea comes to my mind. But I never got guts to publish. Still, since than I made hundreds of photos of toilets, hundreds of messages to my friends describing situations on toilets, and they did the same back to me whenever were somewhere on holidays. How crazy is that??!!

Now is 2025. And I finally decided to procced with my idea of toilet-blogging (I’m not sure is that a word after all.)

First, I want to apologize for my English. My native tongue is Croatian, I’m sure I would better express myself in my language. But then again, all my Croatian friends understand English, if not there is always a friend: google translate. A few English friends don’t’ know Croatian anyway. They never bother to learn.

Another reason why I’m using English (please don’t laugh), is my age!

I’m 60 now, and I’ve read that the good thing of fighting dementia is to learn another language, to read more, to write more, just challenge the brain more. So, if you are close to my age, you will understand, and to be honest, at my age I don’t care what people think of me anymore!

Anyway you can be assured that these stories are written by human with mistakes in the English grammatic, wrong spelling, not perfect, not artificial intelligence.

Enough of me! Let’s go back to the toilets!