Bernard Hamsen
Because Amsterdam is in the Netherlands.
I’m Dutch and proud of it. When I travel abroad I rarely return thinking: ‘I wish our country had this thing they have there, because it would make our country better’. I genuinely believe I live in one of the best places you could live. We could have adopted the American system of installing traffic lights across the intersections, so you don’t have to hurt your neck looking up at the red light if you’re in the front of the cueue, but that’s about it I think.
Except for public toilets. We barely have any here, and when we do you have to pay for them.
It’s the one thing that always struck me when we used to go on holiday by car. You drive a thousand kilometers, cross several countries, make regular stops and everywhere you park your car in any country, there will be restroom facility that is usually clean-ish and free. When you drive back home, having gotten used to this obvious public service it immediately strikes you as soon as you cross the Dutch border: stops don’t even necessarily have toilets. Not all trains have toilets. Shopping malls may not have toilets and the ones that do cost money.
It’s getting better, but we still put new trains into service that don’t have toilets, we still build train and subway stations, or shopping malls without toilets. It’s a weird blind spot of the Dutch and the difference is striking; all surrounding countries; England, Germany, Belgium - they all have public toilet facilities wherever you’d expect them, but we don’t; at least not necessarily.
We’re bad at public toilets. I have no explanation for it.
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