With his enthusiasm rooted firmly in the here and now Padre SANTINO
SCILEPPI could very usefully indeed take it upon himself to preach a valuable sermon
stressing the down to earth importance of adequate local PETRALIA SOTTANA
PUBLIC TOILET PROVISION - see below.
In Giugno one long term Petralia Sottana resident told me
that he had never ever known any woman to use a Petralia Sottana public toilet.
I had the impression that he had the underlying disposition that he didn’t
expect them too anyway. What an astonishing 21st Century outlook and
record. I don’t actually believe what he averred because the female public
toilet at the Via Garibaldi Car Park must surely have been so used at some time
but not nowadays - because that toilet together with the adjacent male toilet
is nowadays closed 24/7. Furthermore there is a public need because I have witnessed women requesting to use Petralia Bar and Trattoria toilets who are not actually intended customers. And the currently closed Via Garibaldi toilets are at the very significant location where folk catch
Pullman Coaches to Palermo
for about a 2 hour journey and there are no toilets on the various public coach
services.
The utterly filthy disgusting public toilet shown above - as
it actually recently existed on 10 Giugno – and which also went uncleaned for
several days subsequently - was utterly unusable, deeply shocking and disgraceful. The 10 Giugno was the occasion of the ceremonial
CORPUS DOMINI religious processions which took place all along Petralia’s main street Corso P Agliata. The
processions and ceremonies went on for hours and hidden about 20 seconds walk away the
above disgusting open public toilet was the only Petralia public toilet provision available at that time
for local use. You would have thought that the Municipal Authorities would have
ensured that at least a clean local toilet was available at such a time. It was
an absolute and utter disgrace that they did not. In effect in Petralia Sottana there was
absolutely no useable public toilet provision. Indeed there is no designated female
provision at the above photographed location. Furthermore there is also no Corso Agliata signage. This is not likely to be a great attraction for visitors to the Madonie Region although for example other local Madonie Commune’s do better – GERACI SICULO, POLIZZI GENEROSA, ISNELLO as well as also GANGI
and NICOSIA .
IL PETRINO the local monthly PETRALIA SOTTANA community magazine
although it is still being produced appears to have lapsed back into the dreamland slumbers from which it was awoken back in 2004 by an earlier postcard artwork complaint lodged
back then about PETRALIA SOTTANA’s then disgusting public toilets – as reproduced in
part in the above image. And the organisation
PRO LOCO which is attempting to reach out to communities from far afield also seems
to be struck dumb on this fundamental
and basic necessity. Of course there is no sign of toilet paper. I have never seen in the UK - maybe others have but in over 70 years I have not - toilet pedestals that have been crouched on top of by users not sat upon so that excrement is then deposited all down and around the nearby rear wall surfaces - as per the above Petralia photograph.
ALAS THINGS ARE NOT NOW IMPROVED SINCE 2004 - IN FACT THEY ARE WORSE! SINDACO SANTO has just been re-elected. Clearly there is still work to do which ought by now to have been long ago resolved positively. Weak excuses wont do - the year now is 2012 not 1912 or 1812. And no pyrotechnics would be required.
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