Generally here in the UK it is free to use public toilets and quite rightly so. The one place I get caught short / out at is at Paddington Station. 30 pence to have a wee!! The result of which is procession of disgruntled passengers... Of course 30 pence will not break the bank, but in the current economic climate why don't they give us something back so that we can quite happily deposit something back in at our hour of need...
wikipedia says "To "spend a penny" in British idiom means to urinate. The etymology of the phrase is literal; some public toilets used to be coin-operated, with a pre-decimal penny being the charge levied. The first recorded charge of a penny for use of a toilet was at the The Great Exhibition of 1851" :)
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