For my work, I am usually found sitting in a car or on a deckchair by the side of the road wearing a yellow jacket and counting cars/pedestrians using either a little electronic clicker type thing or manually counting with pencil and paper.

It’s a great job in that I’m outside in the fresh air, I can wear regular clothes and I usually have my media player on and am off in my own little world.  In many ways, it’s a big doss.  The one downside is we each have to find our own means of going to the toilet.

For the blokes, it’s either the jacket across the laps while peeing into a bottle or nipping into someplace relatively secluded for a quick slash.  For the women, it’s obviously more difficult so they’ll generally go off for a walk or even drive to the nearest pub/superstore.

Yesterday I was in Slough and had to walk over a mile to the nearest toilet and then a mile back again.  I was so desperate at one point I seriously contemplated peeing down an alley between two houses!  Mercifully I didn’t but it was touch and go whether I’d get to where I was headed in time.  The depressing thing was by the time I got back to my colleague, I vaguely wanted to go again!

Today however was a different matter.  We were parked up on a verge and just beside the car was a ditch and some thick trees which we could stand unhurriedly behind.  Because we could go when we wanted, the flasks of coffee flowed freely and we went far more than we actually needed.  It felt like luxury.

Next week we’re not working but I can guarantee for the week after, we’ll be in some tiny cul-de-sac or on some busy main road somewhere and we’ll be back to sprinting behind bushes or standing suspiciously around the back of the car again while a colleague keeps watch lest anyone suddenly walks toward us!