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Paris loos

Posted on April 11, 2026April 11, 2026

If there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing (and I’m assured that there are), then there must be almost that many public toilets in Paris.

Seriously:

There are 8.34 public toilets in every square kilometre of Paris.

And like a question about the titles of Alfred Hitchcock movies, this is bound to come up in a pub quiz near you at some point. So remember it.

France in general has a lot of public loos.

Why? Well, there are some good reasons:

French municipalities take a proactive, centralized approach to providing sanitation facilities, considering them essential street furniture and a human right for residents, elderly, and visitors.

And some… er… less good ones:

The proliferation of toilets, including automated toilets and older-style urinals, aims to combat the prevalent issue of public urination, especially in high-density areas.

Nice.

Still, everyone (in France) benefits from the number of local loos, so perhaps it doesn’t really matter why they’re there. Visitors to Paris are 70x times more likely to be able to find a public toilet than someone visiting Ljubljana.

Meanwhile:

As of April 2026, the City of Cape Town, in partnership with the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) and Streetscapes, operates a targeted public toilet initiative in the CBD, offering nine high-usage mobile toilets.

Nine! (not nine million).

Still far better than Slovenia, mind.

Here we go again

Posted on April 10, 2026April 9, 2026

Heading into the interior of the Cape for a few days away with friends.

We have a standard joke in our family that every advert for a Western Cape weekend getaway is advertised as “just 2 hours out of Cape Town”, whether it’s 30 minutes or 4 hours drive, but it does seem that this one really is almost exactly that. Presumably, that’s the sweet spot between being too close to the city and travelling too far from the city, so it looks like the nail has been firmly hit on the head here.

Fine work by the organisers (it wasn’t me).

Limited plans, then: just a weekend of relaxation, good food, good company and maybe one or two beers.
And probably – almost certainly – plenty (or more) football.

Previous trips have been nothing short of excellent, and honestly, I’m sure this one will be no exception, so look out for photos and news on here. I’m told that there is an internet there, but you know me and my blogging – you’ll be covered on here no matter what.

“Total Victory”

Posted on April 9, 2026April 8, 2026

Look, this whole “ceasefire” thing is very welcome. It’s definitely more palatable than the alternative.

But with both side claiming victory, it’s interesting to see what has actually been achieved.

Which is nothing.

The Strait of Hormuz still isn’t open. Which it was 6 weeks ago, before all of this started.

And incredibly, Iran is even less popular amongst its neighbouring countries than it was 6 weeks ago, before all of this started.

Well done, lads.

Additionally, neither side seems very sure about what the actual T&Cs of the ceasefire are, which surely means that by the time this post publishes on Thursday morning, it’ll likely already be business as usual with the despotic leaders of both nations (and Israel) bombing each other as much as they can.

No wonder I’m looking forward to a weekend away.

Still on Earth, mind you, so not really escaping from all this crap.
But interplanetary travel is so expensive with the price of fuel right now. Because of… well… you know what.

Back to it tomorrow

Posted on April 8, 2026April 8, 2026

Still reeling a bit from a week away, and all the admin and work that greets you on your return home. A lot of clothes washing, a lot of removing the Breede River Valley from my car. Just an all around catch up.
But I think we’re just about there now. Although, I’m just about to go away for another 4 days, so maybe I’ll have to do it all again next week.

On the plus side, I will have a safer car to get there in, having had some nice wheel alignment done this morning. Always equal parts reassuring and concerning when you can very much tell the difference.

So let me leave you with a nice quota photo of the Breede River at sunset.