That’s the great thing about a pissoir as opposed to a lavatoire – there’s only room for one at a time, and so no kinky cottaging can take place, and therefore grannies remain non-outraged.

Women and men have quite different uses for public toilets (hur hur hur) so while public piss units would be good for the menfolk, I’d like to see more good public toilets for women too.

And, there are public loos at the bottom of Courtney Place (also Te Aro Park) – however, I suspect that there are a certain clientele that would find the doorways of Blair, Allen, Tory Streets (etc) far more convenient than conveniences, so to speak. Thus I doubt whether a more extensive loo network along there would make a shred of difference.

The waterfront is an issue though, and I don’t really think it should be incumbent upon business owners to provide conveniences for those that are not their customers – unless of course it became a mandatory aspect of the initial developments so that the design is public rather than customer oriented, and that businesses are aware of such responsibilities (maintenance, safety, etc) before agreeing to take up waterfront premises. Spending a penny, as they still do in some European establishments, could help to make this worthwhile – as I’d be wary of loading too much onus on businesses, many of which struggle to survive, but are vital to its ongoing vitality and success of the waterfront.

And I had thought that the pissoirs in London were simply installed around the bars that cater for antipodeans (for good reason) – I can’t think of any such establishments around Vauxhall Cross though.

As for the saying – it seems that nobody really knows… http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cock-a-snook.html