A few weekends ago I was walking through Marrickville and past a public bathroom. I had to use it, and quite badly, so in I went. Door shuts and locks. Some smooth piano jazz version of the chorus of “What the World Needs now is Love” starts playing, and I recognise it as something I’d heard before.

Somewhere around being seventeen or eighteen, I found myself in a park near where I grew up. Might have actually been twenty-one or twenty-two, but I suspect it was before then. Anyway, I was in a park near where I grew up and I had to use the bathroom. I went in, door locked and piano music started playing. I remember some of it being quite affecting, and it was a rather bizarre experience.

This happened again a number of years later whilst walking to Balls Head… I think. I wrote about it here and I think it was during a walk to Balls Head. It was bizarre then, too. Safe to say it was a bizarre experience this time around also.

I’m wondering why this is a thing. Who thought it’d be a good idea. Is it meant to soother the waste disposal processes? Is it meant to calm the user? Why is this a thing?

It is probably there to provide a sense of calm. Help people relax, or feel relaxed. I imagine it’s stuff that you’re not meant to pay too much attention to, either, but how do I know? What is the plan? What is the aim here? I mean, if I went to the toilet and some jazz pianist started playing JAZZ at me, I’d not feel very relaxed. Was the plan to see how close to terrorising they could get before it became terrorising people? Was it to lull people into a false sense of security whilst someone’s arms slipped through a crack to take wallets from pants? I don’t know!

Sometimes I wonder about these things a bit too much, but I’m glad they exist. I imagine the idea really is to just create a calming sensation. To fill a perceived awkward space. I just find it a bit odd, myself, but I can only imagine a lot of people out there who enjoy that little extra bit. It doesn’t have to mean much of anything, though I imagine it does.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about this thing.