Lots of public loos like that. The metal ones can be particularly splashy.
Drunk? Need a slash? Avoid walls in Hackney
London's Hackney council is targeting male revellers' time-honoured practice of necking a skinful, and then relieving themselves against walls, with a hydrophobic coating designed to send steaming streams straight back to the piss-taker. According to the BBC, the authority spends £100k a year cleaning up after al fresco …
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Thursday 17th December 2015 15:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
What's to stop people leaning on the wall and directing the stream at an angle? You wouldn't normally lean because the wall might be covered in urine; but that's not a problem here. A drunken slash would be a more comfortable experience if you knew which walls were coated.
I've seen that coating before...pretty impressive. Wonder how hardwearing it is.
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Friday 18th December 2015 00:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip - thanks. I was a bit involved at the time, so didn't look at the source as hard as I should have. I find the training video quite interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwozHdrxgI
..it all looks a bit toxic. And I'm not sure if they're selling xylene or the spraygun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylene
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Thursday 17th December 2015 21:00 GMT John Tserkezis
"Wonder how hardwearing it is."
We had seen this at an electronics trade show about last year. One of the vendors was flogging it off for protecting electronics.
They were quite clear to say there was no "home application kit", though it appears they were holding it for themselves.
They did say the the resulting coating was quite thin and would rub off with time. I know the FAQ claims a year, but like any claim, they only apply to best case conditions. If you were to apply this to a phone, it wouldn't last very long, though the innards would (because you're not touching them. Taking the phones apart and insulating the connectors is another matter however.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 22:17 GMT Steven Roper
Exactly. Angle of incidence = angle of reflection. I've known that since I was a kid, to the point where I always piss into a urinal at an angle to ensure no splashbacks. I do the same if I have to use a wall, so this stuff won't bother me.
One of the joys of being male is that the world is your urinal!
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Thursday 17th December 2015 15:50 GMT Afernie
Hmmm.
"The authority spends £100k a year cleaning up after al fresco urinators, and has decided to spunk £1,000 treating walls at "two popular drinking locations in Shoreditch and Dalston"."
Why do I get the feeling that if this becomes the approach taken, the cost of treating the walls (and maintaining the treatment) will somehow manage to exceed £100K? Also I predict many pissers will be canny and/or just sober enough to piss at an angle to the wall, probably after a first unwelcome experience with the new coating. Then the piss is still on the pavement to be cleaned up at taxpayers expense, doubling the cost.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 16:02 GMT Dr Dan Holdsworth
Or, on the other hand, we could actually solve the problem
The basic problem is that when exiting a club into the cool night air after an evening's drinking, the average person feels a great need to get rid of recycled beer. Thanks to councils closing down public toilets, there are simply no convenient facilities available.
Temporary urinals, even automatic ones which rise up out of the street in the evening, and drop down again in the morning, would seem to provide a much better solution. You could even go as far as re-engineering the walls of alleys into actual urinals, complete with some sort of cleaning system, to give clubbers somewhere to relieve themselves.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 17:36 GMT JohnMurray
Re: Or, on the other hand, we could actually solve the problem
In my experience, the male toilets are full of females urinating. Those with no female presence tend to have a smell that requires a strong stomach to tolerate. After 6 pints strong stomachs are not much in evidence. Instead of pissing down a wall, just pee on the ground.
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Friday 18th December 2015 02:05 GMT John Brown (no body)
Re: Or, on the other hand, we could actually solve the problem
Just Google for Westoe Netty Cheap, simple and handy. And yes, I'm old enough to have stopped off there many times on the way home from the pub and don't recall ever seeing any of the so-called "behaviour" that caused the council to close it or ever met a Wham singer there.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 21:06 GMT John Tserkezis
Re: Sod walls
"Works better than wipers..."
Only if you're moving at a reasonable rate for the wind to blow off the beads. I've done it as an interim for a busted wiper motor. But you need to be brave to go fast enough before it starts working well.
A case of how long you can keep your balls in your throat.
It's better than virgin windshield, but not better than wipers.
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Friday 18th December 2015 09:51 GMT llodge
Re: Sod walls
Rain-X
I find it works well when freshly applied once you get past about about 25mph. At motorway speeds it works very well.
The older the coating the less well it works. I find on windscreens you can get around 2-3 months between applications on side and rear windows 6 months between coatings.
A very useful side effect is it repels seagull crap as well! :-)
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Friday 18th December 2015 13:56 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
Re: Sod walls
> It's called Rain-X. Works better than wipers...
And pretty good when used on motorbike helmet visors. Although it does sometimes require you lift your head up into the airflow if your fairing is particularly good..
Only downside is that it wipes off quite easily so you need to re-apply every few days or so.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 19:30 GMT Dadmin
Re: Missing the point
You only need one pair of trousers, if you coat them with this hydrophobic paint system! Imagine dozens of pub crawl attendees, ladies too, standing in the nearby alley, pissing all over each others pants, the wall, parked cars, dumpsters, the cat, trash cans, sleeping homeless guy, another cat, etc.
Also, how much for a pair of those and a ticket to good old London town?
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Friday 18th December 2015 09:05 GMT Loud Speaker
Re: Missing the point
After a swift pint (or two) near Hackney Central last night, I had a look for this "feature" and I can assure you that 99.723% of Hackney is NOT equipped with this substance. I was able to piss in loads of places with no problem whatever.
I admit to deliberately avoiding Hoxton. That is quite normal for me.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 17:02 GMT LucreLout
Re: What's to clean?
@Gordon Stewart
"the authority spends £100k a year cleaning up after al fresco urinators"
Eh? It's not graffiti, it's just a bit of piss - It gets cleaned for free next time it rains!
It does, but that £100k is probably not paying for cleaning. What you'll have is a help line to register complaints, manned by someone earning £40k, they'll need a manager, so thats another £40k, and the reaming £20k is probably their cost centres share of the diversity co-ordination team.
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Friday 18th December 2015 12:55 GMT Jediben
Re: Hackney Carriage
I have never seen that happen - must be quite a bit of pressure and angulation required to get the stream up and over your head to reach the back of the cab, out the window and onto the tyre. Making sure you keep the vehicle in motion at the same time must be a bitch too!
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Thursday 17th December 2015 18:38 GMT Neil 44
How long will it last? How much will they save
"2- How long will Ultra-Ever Dry coating last ?The SE 7.6.110 formula’s longevity in use is susceptible to environmental conditions (UV / abrasion). This coating will generally last 2-8 months in direct sunlight and outdoor conditions before recoating of the top coat would be required. When used in indoor or covered applications outdoors, the SE 7.6.110 coating should last for a year or more. Other formulas are being added to our product line that can provide years of useful life before any recoat is needed."
(from http://ultraeverdry-tap.co.uk/faq.html)
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Thursday 17th December 2015 18:48 GMT Aqua Marina
£1000?
Surely it would be more cost effective to simply paint the walls with a bit of Ronseal (does exactly what it says on the tin). Once the walls are no longer porus, kinetic energy will ensure that the first time you pee perpendicularly against a wall, it will bounce straight back at you. About £10 per litre and lasts for years.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 20:11 GMT Martin Summers
Re: £1000?
"I'm a bit surprised no-one has suggested an electric cattle fence."
Ouch, I'm reminded of the time halfway up a hill in a roadside lay-by in Wales in pitch dark where I was taking a leak. I thought the sheep watching me was bad enough until my stream hit the fence I hadn't realised was electric. Not an experience I want to repeat.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 21:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Piss off
"Spend it on half decent public toilets that are open 24 / 7 you plonkers !"
Most of Hackney's public toilets were sold off as lock up shops and trendy resturants
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2014/oct/09/at-your-convenience-converted-public-toilets-in-pictures
http://dalstonist.co.uk/a-public-toilet-in-clapton-is-being-turned-into-a-cafe/
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Thursday 17th December 2015 23:13 GMT David Roberts
Solvents?
No mention of how it handles non water based liquids e.g. paint thinners.
If it will take auto touch up paint then all you need is a spray can of "can spray" and you can paint a quick target and go for it.
Which then opens the door to innovation. Banksy could paint a mural of a urinal thus proving beyond doubt that modern art is a genuine piss take.
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Thursday 17th December 2015 23:51 GMT Jan 0
For the easily offended: How about 'modesty screens' on three sides of street drains?
Pissing on walls seems relatively innocent.
What pisses me off is the people I see pissing on other people's doors and doorsteps. That must be wonderful when they step out first thing in the morning, If I had that problem, I'd want to fit a net of high voltage (current limited) wires about half way between prick and ground level and laugh at the screams.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
