# International laundry **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-laundry/314692 "2005-07-29T02:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-laundry/314692/121 "2005-08-06T02:03:14Z")
> [@Typically Sunday](#): > > Italy: > > When I visited, there were porto-potty type toilets in some areas, but they were much nicer than in the US. Instead of a dank little plastic prison where someone inevitably took a huge dump right before you arrived, the ones in italy were bigger, brighter, and after you left a sprinkler turned on to clean up a little bit. They cost money, but they were completely worth it. Heh. They had these in Germany too. Being cheap tourists, we tried to jump in there before the door closed after one person came out, so that we would only have to pay once. Someone went 1st, then I went second (there were a total of 5 or so people in line…) So Person #1 goes and pees, they walk out, and I dash in before the doors close… But the doors open again, and won’t close. So I step out. They won’t close. I go back in. They don’t close. ::looks around:: Eh, I say, and go piss. I finish, flush, and exit to chuckles and stories about how the Germans were looking at me funny. And to make it worse, when I leave the damn box, the door closes. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-laundry/314692/122 "2005-08-06T03:56:32Z")
There are pay toilets in some of the more tourist heavy areas of San Francisco too. Costs $0.25. When you finish, the toilet retracts into the wall for cleaning. The floor gets a wash too. Neat. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-laundry/314692/123 "2005-08-06T05:55:05Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > **TLD** , then you give a postal address, do you give the suburb name or the town/city name, or both? As **mhendo** said, “Sydney” is a relatively small area, and only places that are actually located within that small area can have mail addressed to Sydney. For the rest of us living in the suburbs, we use the suburb name only, with _no mention_ of Sydney. The fact that we are part of the metropolitan area doesn’t matter, and the address is in the same format as that of a town in the desert. There is no way of telling, without local knowledge, whether or not an address is part of a city. _A downtown address:_ 201 Pitt St SYDNEY NSW 2000 _A suburban address:_ 50 Foveaux St SURRY HILLS NSW 2010 _A country address:_ 99 Argent St BROKEN HILL NSW 2880 The first one is obviously downtown, but somebody unfamiliar with the names wouldn’t know that the second one is a ten minute walk from the first (it’s inner-city), whilst the third one is a day and a half’s drive away on the edge of the outback. The addressing system simply doesn’t care, and you never see: 50 Foveaux St SURRY HILLS SYDNEY NSW 2010 …despite the fact that Surry Hills is “in Sydney”. I live twenty miles from anywhere officially called Sydney, but unoffically the whole of the greater metropolitan area takes the name. If somebody here asks me where I’m from, I’m from the suburb of Liverpool, but travel a hundred miles, and I’ll tell them I’m from Sydney. This goes for all Australian cities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-laundry/314692.md?page=6)