I had a terrible day, and I don’t feel like writing about anything serious. Instead, why not discuss the merits of the pee-pipe? Look how the pee is slowly undermining the very foundation of the New 3rd World Lounge, proudly located at 49th and Catharine in West Philadelphia. I’ve seen a lot of shithole dive bars, but this is the first pisshole dive bar I’ve seen, and it seems to be meeting code despite it’s aversion to strictly indoor plumbing.
This might be a metaphor for something, but I’m not sure what.
In Southern Europe, France and Italy and probably a lot of other countries, the bathroom is a hole in the floor. You float your fundament over the hole, and let ‘er rip. Or drop. Now, there are some aspects of elimination that work well with such technology, but others do not.
I forgot to mention that the floor plates feature a handy foot outline, to show you the most likely position to assume to keep things on target.
You’re talking about a squat toilet, which is actually the healthiest way to move one’s bowels. It’s how we designed to shit. The hole can go into a latrine trench or into a septic system or sewer line. On the trains in Europe, the toilet opens right onto the track. You can watch it going by. They ask people not to use it in a station (unless you really don’t like the town).
Trains here used to be like that too.
Is a “pee-pipe” what Tea Partiers smoke so that they can maintain their constant, high level of being pissed off about anything and everything? It might explain the brain damage. And the smell.
I’m envisioning something kind of like a bong, with, say, crab grass, but…different. (Used by people who don’t understand that you’re not supposed to smoke actual weeds.)
Friends, WELCOME TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
I live a 5 minute walk from the New Third World Lounge, although i’ve never visited this elegant establishment.
You may see me complain a LOT about Philly, and everything I say is, sadly, true.
But to give West Philly -the neighborhood where N3WL exists- its due, less than a block away is the Dock Street Brewery and Pub, handcrafting beers every day. Two blocks east is Dahlak, an Ethiopian restaurant and bar that is the place where all of us -black, white, latino, vietnamese, african, chinese, rich, poor, white collar, blue collar, gay, straight, trans- drink beers and smoke weed in the parking lot. Similar crowd at Gojjo on the 4500 block of Baltimore Ave. Queen of Sheba and Abbey’s Desert Lounge are also lovely dives, where people don’t go peepee on the street.
The N3WL is not representative of my neighborhood.
Yeah, and for the first two-to-three minutes of that walk, you are walking through a shooting gallery.
Your hood appears to be no longer tenable. Was that the word in Apocalypse Now?
Nah, you have your geography off a little bit. on my block around 50th, it’s quite sketchy. But at 50th and Baltimore Avenue, its really not very sketchy at all. It’s quite safe therez a lot of new small businesses. The N3W is the anomaly on Baltimore Ave these days.
I’m talking about your neighborhood…the first couple of minutes of your walk to West Philly.
depend which way you go.
I see today is the day to discuss important issues of our time.
It bears a remarkable resemblance to politics.
Well, it is political, because the point is that residents who complained could not stop the pee-pipe.
The most fundamental political act, the essence of politics, is waste disposal. If you cannot dispose of waste properly, soon you will have cholera and typhus. Epidemics start when waste and water are mingled without treatment. The earliest scientific study in epidemiology was the evaluation by John Love in London in 1760 where he determined that a cholera epidemic started with a contaminated water source.
So your sarcastic comment is not sarcasm. Waste is politics.