英國廢棄電話亭再利用 變身室外衛生間

A pensioner has found a novel use for an old red telephone box, turning it into a lavatory.

John Long, 73, spent months converting the cubicle into a loo after finding the disused box in a reclamation yard in Carhampton, Somerset.

The retired salesman, from Taunton, Somerset, fitted the telephone box with a porcelain lavatory pan, hand basin, high-level cistern, frosted glass panes, a heater and a red tennis ball on the end of the lavatory chain.

He said: ''I've done lots of projects, but this is one of the biggest. It's worked out extremely well – better than expected.

''I've wanted a red telephone box for years and I didn't have an outside lavatory, so I thought I could combine the two.

''To be honest, I probably use it more often than the internal lavatory now. It's just so convenient.''

Mr Long spent months transforming the telephone box and even crept out at night to measure another box down the road to check everything would fit.

''I took a pan to a red telephone kiosk down the road, sat on it, hoping and praying no one would come along and take me off to a nut house,'' he said.

''Because of the high-level cistern, the water comes down like an avalanche."

Despite their decline in numbers in recent years, the red telephone box regularly tops polls as one of Britain's most iconic structures.

The Post Office first introduced red phone boxes in the 1920s designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.

英國一位退休老人近日極富創意地將一座陳舊的紅色電話亭改造成一間室外衛生間。

73歲的約翰•朗在薩默塞特郡卡漢普頓的回收區發現了這個廢棄的電話亭，之後花費數月時間把它打造成了衛生間。

來自薩默塞特郡陶頓的退休推銷員約翰•朗在電話亭中安裝了一個陶瓷馬桶、一個洗手盆、一個高位水箱、磨砂玻璃板、和一個熱水器，此外還在沖水繩的末端繫了一個紅色網球。

他說：“我做過很多工程，但這個最成功。效果非常完美，比我預想的好多了。”

“這些年我一直想有個紅色電話亭，而且我沒有室外衛生間，所以我覺得可以把兩者合二爲一。”

“老實說，我現在用這間室外廁所的次數比室內的還要多，非常方便。”

朗先生花費數月時間改造電話亭，甚至在晚上偷偷溜去測量另外一間路邊電話亭，確保所有器具都能裝好。

他說：“我帶坐便器去另外一個路邊紅色電話亭，坐在上面，心裏默默祈禱千萬別有人過來，把我送進精神病院。”

“由於安裝了高位水箱，沖水時傾瀉而下。”

儘管紅色電話亭近年來不斷減少，但時常獲評英國最具象徵性建築。

英國郵政在上世紀20年代首次建成吉爾伯特•斯科特爵士設計的紅色電話亭。

Vocabulary:

reclamation: the process or industry of deriving usable materials from waste, by-products, etc.（廢料等的回收，廢物回收）

pan: also called: lavatory pan, the bowl of a lavatory（馬桶）

frosted:（玻璃）毛邊的，磨砂的

nut house: 精神病院

avalanche: a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward（雪崩）