I have a theory - just a theory based on personal experience and not on reams of data from a variety of sources so it's really not going to be that accurate.  Here it is - I believe that you can tell that America is past its' days of glory by the state of its' public washrooms, toilets, loo's - wc's - whatever you want to call them.

 

In Canada - you can expect a 50 50 split between washrooms that you want to go into - and washrooms that you absolutely avoid.  So far - in my limited experience in the United States of America - cleanliness is at the bottom of the priority scale!  Do you remember when Greyhound Canada's ceo travelled from depot to depot - eating lunch in the washrooms - just to state how clean they were?  And Joey Tomato's in Kelowna - where I had the disconcerting feeling of being watched as I used the urinal.  An elderly gentleman was standing behind me engrossed in the television screen at eye level by my urinal (hockey I think!)  That's Canada for you - where you fly into the Calgary Airport with Westjet not so that you can 'stopover' but so you can use the loo - ya gotta - they are sooo clean there!  But then, you hit The Taco Bell in Seattle and you wonder if the loo was cleaned once when it was built and that's it.  Or the gas station at Blaine where you walk in and are assaulted by sites and smells reserved for horror movies.  Or when you hit the Pizza Hut in Kona - and again - you wonder if it's a once a decade cleaning. 

 

So my theory goes - that because America seems to have lost their skill, their energy, their sense of excellence in such a foundational event - that the core of the nation is falling apart.  America the Beautiful has begun to smell... and I wish that they would turn it around before it all ends up in the crapper!

 

Sincerely,

 

Darcy