Q. Recently, while on holiday in foreign parts, I was
'taken short' and had, perforce, to seek the sanctuary of a public lavatory. Imagine my dismay, Mary, when entering the premises. I was confronted by cubicles screened only by half doors. The hapless occupants were plainly visible both from the ankles down and from the shoulders up. Normally we women are afforded the privacy of full doors behind which to indulge in the necessary facial and bodily contortions associated with the satisfactory completion of the task in hand. Here, one was on public view, an experience I found both disconcerting and embarrassing. I was uncertain, too, as to etiquette: ought one to make eye contact and exchange greetings with one's neighbours, or would a better course of
action be to close one's eyes and pretend solitude? I chose the latter. Was I right, Mary?
M.H., Lerida, Spain
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