Carol’s Column

More info on world’s first flush toilet

The voice at the end of the line was gentle and charming and belonged to Mrs Dellow.

Politely, Mrs Dellow remarked that she thought there may have been an error in my column last week in which I stated that Dr Guy Preston, the National leader of the Working for Water Programme, had invented a toilet with a basin built into the cistern - the official name is a sink-lid toilet.

Mrs Dellow explained that some 40 years ago, friends in Germiston named Shrimpton had owned a toilet with such a device and it was the first and only toilet basin she'd ever seen. She was sure that this device had not been invented by Guy Preston as, if she remembered correctly, it had come from overseas.

She had to be right because I imagine Guy Preston would barely have been out of nappies at that time.

I explained I'd probably misunderstood Dr Preston because he was extremely modest and would never had claimed to have invented something he had not.

Shortly after this, I received a communication from Guy to say that indeed, he had not invented the toilet-lid sink. It was, he thought, a Japanese invention.

The particular Preston hand-washing toilet (the one I saw in a brochure and the one about which I enthused) was a modified version of the original concept.

It had been created as part of a 'user pays' programme for use in some of our national parks.

Then Nick Polykardopoulos phoned to say that on the small island in Greece where he was born, existed an ancient toilet with a V-shaped hole and seat carved from rock. Above this was a spring which first flowed into a rock-chiselled basin, then down the back of the same rock into the hole. The disadvantage being you could not lean against the wet surface. Island legend, said Nick, said this ablutionary arrangement dated from the time of Alexander the Great.

I stand corrected and my apologies to Greece, Japan, Guy Preston and Mrs Dellow.

Meanwhile, the alien vegetation world fights back.

Not all aliens are wicked invaders, said nurseryman Morkel van Tonder. I should, he said, differentiate between good and bad aliens.

"Good alien trees use little water and don't breed like rabbits taking over everything around them. Good aliens, like oaks or bougainvillaea, use little water but give much joy," he commented.

"Now bad aliens, such as pestilent pines and wicked wattles are like chickenpox. They destroy the indigenous ecosystem. The difference between them is like comparing Attila the Hun with Dr Albert Schweitzer."

He had an interesting turn of phrase.

Each day, I learn more about bad alien invaders - the ones the Working for Water Programme are trying to eradicate. (I'm not talking responsible controlled forestry plantations here).

I wish I'd known about the importance of planting things that don't use much water years ago. It is, of course, like most crucial things, a question of education and communication.

Yesterday, I drove past a small group of women pulling out alien vegetation on a hillside. "Yebo!" I shouted, waving my fist out of the car.

And then I heard shouting and the driver of an overtaking taxi pulled a zap sign.

Good heavens, he didn't realise my "yebo" was a shout of encouragement. As I said, it's all a matter of communication.

This year, when Tree Day comes around, enthusiastic Water and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils, instead of using "plant a tree" as a slogan, (as he did last year) must bellow:

"PLANT AN INDIGENOUS TREE, AND WE SHALL OVERCOME!"

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