Right!
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Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa wrote letters home and to friends back in the states on IZAL the brand of tracing paper favoured at St Andrews. My mum saved every letter, and I found one in her geneology and family memorabilia after she passed. Still have it.
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It was like grease proof paper!
I'm sure it was plausible for sewage farms to retrieve it, clean it and resell it!
Horrible stuff!
@monkeyben That's hilarious!
Evil. But hilarious!
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@bodhipaksa in the 1970s USA, when I was elementary school age, that paper was at school and lots of public bathrooms.
@relache Wow! I didn't think Americans would have stood for that. Or sat, or whatever.
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@bodhipaksa
Wales. We had it right through primary and secondary. I would like you to imagine menstruating and having only sharp, shiny, non-absorbent toilet paper.@linguacelta I'm so sorry!
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@bodhipaksa I remember having visible fragments of print letters in ours (probably recycled newspapers?) in socialist Hungary, but nothing nearly as horrible as you describe this one. What is/was wrong with the UK?!
@phl Unnecessary suffering is Britain's national obsession. I mean ... Brexit?
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@bodhipaksa
Shipyard toilets had attendant who issued 4 sheets of Izal non absorbant hard paper and you were allowed 4 mins to do your business.@Clutha Dear god! Everything about that is awful!
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@bodhipaksa @avatastic same but 90s
@noodlemaz @avatastic The 80's and 90's! Incredible! We had it in school in the 60's and 70's. I don't remember seeing it after that.
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@bodhipaksa Izal or Bronco?
@luddchem It was Izal. I've never heard of the other one. Where was that?
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@bodhipaksa Scotland in primary school in the 80s. The memory haunts me still, even after decades of soft paper and bidets.
@andy_the_frazzled It is a scarring memory!
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@bodhipaksa I remember its name, but I shall not say its name, for fear of summoning it.
@pigworker You made me laugh out loud!
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@pigworker @bodhipaksa I remember it from Edinburgh Uni in the 80s
@fullyabstract @pigworker I'm so glad I went to Glasgow Uni, then! I don't think I ever saw any there.
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@bodhipaksa @purplepadma We still have a similar variety of paper in the states but ours doesn’t sound quite as bad as you describe. Mostly used in schools, hospitals, etc. We used to joke, calling it John Wayne toilet paper - rough and tough.
@FeloniousPunk @purplepadma I've never come across anything in the US that's similar. This stuff literally was like wiping your a-hole with tracing paper. It was insanity!
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@FeloniousPunk @purplepadma I've never come across anything in the US that's similar. This stuff literally was like wiping your a-hole with tracing paper. It was insanity!
@bodhipaksa @purplepadma {{{ shudder }}}
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@bodhipaksa It's probably worth investigating - obviously there's some scandal behind it where some Head of School Governor Board or other did a shady deal with Bacofoil or something - otherwise how in the hecking heck did this pass the most cursory of checks
@rich One story was that Izal gave it away to institutions that bought their cleaning products. I imagine that free toilet paper would hard to turn down — especially if other people were going to use it.
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@bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot @purplepadma@beige.party @BenCotterill@mastodon.social "Now wash your hands."
@nowster @BenCotterill @purplepadma
OMG! I had forgotten that entirely!
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Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa IZAL medicated.
-
Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa England. Boarding school. The 1980s.
Half the kids had piles.
-
Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa totally was a thing in ultra basic places in France (like rest stop areas, summer camp, schools, etc....) in the end 70s 80s
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Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa I never had the pleasure, but I did find yesterday's Le Monde torn into squares and jammed over a nail on the wall in a communal toilet at a cheap hotel overlooking the Seine on my first visit to France
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Right! Hard toilet paper!
People of a certain age from Britain (and maybe elsewhere) will remember with horror having to use toilet paper that resembled tracing paper. It was hard and crinkly, not at all absorbent, and you could literally use it for tracing.
I'm curious how many people remember the trauma of using this appalling invention.
If you did encounter it, please state the offending country in the comments.
[Boost for larger sample, please!]
@bodhipaksa North of England, 70s and 80s. Anyone who objected was called soft and made to move to the South.
