Bummff !

How extraordinary that with the threat of a Pandemic we have thousands of panic stricken people rushing the supermarkets and pulling reams of toilet paper off the shelves.  Some households will have enough bummff on hand to last them well into the next year.

This Coronavirus is really influenza on steroids and has very little to do with the patients rear end. The vast majority of people recover and every year the conventional flu season causes a number of deaths.  It is more important that the medication used to combat flu be available in the quantities needed and not lapse into short supply.

Perhaps now is a good time to review the long history of toilet paper use in Australia.  In those far distant days when the nation was unsewered and the "nightsoil collector " took the pan away every week it was common practice to nail a merchants catalogue to a stud in the outhouse wall.  It was thought a lot of sales occurred from people reading a page of the catalogue as they sat and awaited its use and the merchants were given credit for the softness of the paper used.  Few high gloss catalogues made the cut.

When the sewer connection arrived it was very different.  There was a need for paper that dissolved and didn't clog the sewer and this resulted in a great new industry.  Hundreds of millions of trees are felled and used each year to produce the toilet paper consumed by the nation. A giant section of the advertising industry extolls its virtue.

Sadly, preferences have changed and many people are now using what are referred to as " wet wipes " and these do not dissolve and tend to cause costly blockages. Perhaps this toilet paper stockpile panic will be a blessing because it will revert people back to using the stuff that dissolves.  It is noticeable that this buying panic did not extend to wet wipes.

It is interesting to compare toilet habits here with the rest of the world.  In France toilet paper has been replaced with the bidet.  A French bathroom is not complete unless there is a bidet alongside the conventional toilet.  It brings a certain elegance that only the French could add to conventional bathroom etiquette.

It is said that India is a country that lacks toilets.  Its citizens use the great outdoors and back in the days when the British ran India is was common for them to be disparaged as " the people who have not yet learned to wash their bottoms ".   In India, the citizenry carry a little water and other necessities for just that purpose.

In Japan this function has degenerated into toilets that combine the benefits of the bidet in the one smooth operation, and the cost can run into many thousands of dollars.  Users complain that like most electronic marvels the operating instructions are confusing.  Pushing the wrong button can have unfortunate consequences and they are yet to gain wide acceptance into private homes.

Now that it is likely that most Australian homes  have a vast stockpile of toilet paper it is a matter of waiting to see if our toilet habits change.  It could be said that we have all eventualities covered  !