Canter Bridge

You heard it here first.

The quiet little secret at the heart of the ‘special relationship’ that binds together the UK and the USA to the consternation of the rest of the world is not what you think. It actually comes down to this: clean bathrooms (a.k.a. ‘loos’).

Next time you grimace at having to find the right coin to use a public loo, muttering something about the indignity of paying to pee, do a mind shift: this is the small cost you pay in the UK for a cleanliness you’ll find nowhere else.

I once read an interview with an aged Russian diplomat as he finished up a long period of service in London. When asked what he’d miss most, he said something like this: ‘A man of a certain age, like me, appreciates that in London you never have to go very far without a clean public loo.’

Hey, if it’s good enough for the Russian diplomatic corps? Carry some coins and get over it.