The inspirational public toilet

To my mind, being a toilet attendant has to rank very highly on the worst jobs list. I always thought it must be quite a degrading job. But recently I came across a public toilet that gave me hope in humanity, and our ability to transform negative to positive, or in this case, poo into perfume. Normally, public toilets in Asia are very grim, dirty and smelly affairs which make you long for the (relative) bright shininess of Virgin trains toilets - and you have to pay the princely sum of 5 baht (less than 1p) to get in!

But this one is different. Down near Thaksin bridge, in SE Central Bangkok, there is a public toilet that makes me smile every time I pass it. The attendants have turned it into a magical haven of toiletitude. As you walk down the path, you are surrounded by small trees in pots, and even a water feature full of lotus flowers.

You pay 5 baht to a smiling attendant, who hands over a whole packet of fresh white tissues, and sends you into a shiny bright white bathroom scented with the eucalyptus-menthol perfume that Thais so adore. The walls are adorned with posters of nirvana; psychedelic lotuses floating on sapphire-blue pools. Towels are neatly folded, and the mirrors decorated with little plastic flowers. The toilets themselves are scrubbed until they shine.

Every time I walk by, it makes me think that even if we complain sometimes about our jobs, there is a way to transform any kind of job into something special. We don't have to be high-flyers, or glamourous super-models, the important thing is to make the most of what we have.