Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Ice Scraper

Ice-cold poker for the good of us all.
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Had this idea earlier, as I visited the toilets here in the office. I did not stop in the first 'trap' I chose. There were signs of an earlier struggle.

The bog brush is a dreadful invention. Anyone who's ever 'flicked' their thumb through the bristles of a wet toothbrush will share my dislike. What's needed is a new suite of tools, that can be flushed.

Rewind my earlier scene. I enter the cubicle and spy the man-nutella which has been left around the bowl. Tutting my disapproval, I open the in-lav chiller cabinet and browse the tools there stowed.

Each is a frozen-water scraper, poker, or shovel affair. I choose the most appropriate, a thing like a four-inch paintbrush, but naturally not bristled, as it is entirely ice. I pop the tool from its plastic 'ice-cube' mould, and I mentally prepare.

I delve, I poke, I push. I retch, a bit, but someone's got to do it. The ice-brush is of course hard and unyielding, and so is not the perfect scraper, but its edge yields a bit as the warmer-than-zero porcelain melts it slightly to shape. In the end the job is done to satisfaction, and the brush can be left melting in the pan. I pee. I poo. I flush. Maybe the whole brush didn't flush this time, not wholly melted yet, but at least it's not upside down dripping another man's turd into its holder next to the lav.

Other tools, like a long, inch-thick icicle might be used for encouraging 'survivors' or bits of air-filled paper round the bend. A few sharp taps on the bowl should break it into manageable chunks for melting/flushing. I've said too much.

theNakedApiarist, Oct 03 2007

Toilet wand. http://www.clorox.c...iew.php?prod_id=ctw
These work well, even if they do make mother nature cry. [Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 03 2007]

10 Foot Pole Pocket_20Retractible_20Barge_20Pole
- for [Canuck] [neutrinos_shadow, Oct 04 2007]

[link]






       I think the ice brush needs to be curved to match the curvature of the bowl, otherwise it will be fairly inutile.
phundug, Oct 03 2007
  

       Is this, ahem, facility in Antarctica? Why all the ice? (Sounds like a cold day in Hell, but that's a different idea)   

       You're a braver man than I am. I'd only tackle such a scene with elbow-length latex gloves, full-facial breathing apparatus, and proverbial ten-foot pole.   

       And I would need to have lost a bet.
Canuck, Oct 03 2007
  

       //Why all the ice?//
So it can be easily replaced (water + mould + refrigeration + time = new tool).
I'm not sure about the 'public toilet' application, but the Ice Tool concept would be useable in other, one-time-use, applications (can't think of any off-hand, but...).
neutrinos_shadow, Oct 04 2007
  

       One could store a form for such a tool on the roof of the car. You would remove a new ice scraper from the form on preparing to scrape your icy car in the morning. A small plate which heats like a cigarette lighter would allow you to regenerate the blade as it dulled. On finishing your scrapings, throw the scraper into the street. A new scraper will begin to generate when the scraper reservoir thaws as you drive.
bungston, Oct 04 2007
  
      
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