2-Ply: A South African in Northern Ireland

Toilet paper in a public toilet in Derrygonnelly, County Fermanagh. Sunday, 31 August 2008.

2-Ply:

A South African in Northern Ireland

Why the Title?

The irony will probably only be clear to South Africans: Northern Ireland had just experienced its wettest August day on record and I was on the road. I had been stuck in queues (in South Africa we call them traffic jams) for four hours and desperately needed a toilet.

Toilets are hard to find in Northern Ireland if you don't know where to look. A stop at a filling station proved fruitless and now I was sitting on a flooded highway near Lisburn and getting rather desperate.

There were some road works on the side of the road. And a portaloo was put out for the workers. In desperation I stopped there. I was a bit worried because I did not have any toilet paper in the car. But I did not need to be. I found a clean chemical toilet with three roles of 2-Ply toilet paper!

When I finished, three cars had stopped behind me and a queue of a different kind was beginning to form. I was greatly relieved and thought that this would be a great metaphor to use while explore the different layers that make up my Northern Irish experience.

written by my husband Pastor Weiers Coetser
His old blod was Gomoto Diaries