#2485 "Singleton Private Place"

The snow was melting fast. There was no time to waste so I decided to paint the last snow drifts that were to be found on the shaded, northern flanks of the Singleton marble ridges. I thought that the "intimate, friendly, private place" of the privy would be a great place to paint. The snow would be gone in one more day. There was way less snow than on January 25th, 2021 when I recorded #2473 "Singleton Pioneer Privy". This was a two seater privy but I really can't imagine both spaces being occupied at the same time. 

Every language has euphemisms regarding bathrooms and private places like the privy. We rarely describe them by their given names. For toilets especially, we say cryptic things like: 

• I’m going to see a man about a horse.
• I’m going to the powder room.
• I need a Number 1 (pee) or Number 2 (poo).
• I need to use the little girls’ / little boys’ room.
• I need to use the sand box. 

The flushing toilet was around way before the 15th Century and dates back to at least Ancient Egypt. The first popular indoor toilet was was invented in the late 1500's by Sir John Harrington, a poet who was also Queen Elizabeth I’s Godson (one of 101 god children). Early toilets in England were called Jakes, or sometimes Cousin Johns. When Sir Harrington invented a flush toilet, he named it Ajax, a play on the word "Jacks". He then wrote a satirical book about it called A New Discourse upon a Stale Subject: The Metamorphosis of Ajax. It claimed to be a toilet manual but had political undertones. In particular, the story had veiled references to the Earl of Leicester, so John got exiled or flushed, so to speak. Those early toilets were only flushed after about 20 uses, and consumed 7.5 gallons of water.

The red shouldered hawk kept an eye on me and screeched repeatedly. I heard many bird songs that I did not recognize. The Singleton Sanctuary is a special place. 

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