英国废弃电话亭再利用 变身室外卫生间

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.

英国一位退休老人近日极富创意地将一座陈旧的红色电话亭改造成一间室外卫生间。

73岁的约翰．朗在萨默塞特郡卡汉普顿的回收区发现了这个废弃的电话亭，之后花费数月时间把它打造成了卫生间。

来自萨默塞特郡陶顿的退休推销员约翰．朗在电话亭中安装了一个陶瓷马桶、一个洗手盆、一个高位水箱、磨砂玻璃板、和一个热水器，此外还在冲水绳的末端系了一个红色网球。

他说：“我做过很多工程，但这个最成功。效果非常完美，比我预想的好多了。”

“这些年我一直想有个红色电话亭，而且我没有室外卫生间，所以我觉得可以把两者合二为一。”

“老实说，我现在用这间室外厕所的次数比室内的还要多，非常方便。”

朗先生花费数月时间改造电话亭，甚至在晚上偷偷溜去测量另外一间路边电话亭，确保所有器具都能装好。

他说：“我带坐便器去另外一个路边红色电话亭，坐在上面，心里默默祈祷千万别有人过来，把我送进精神病院。”

“由于安装了高位水箱，冲水时倾泻而下。”

尽管红色电话亭近年来不断减少，但时常获评英国最具象征性建筑。

英国邮政在上世纪20年代首次建成吉尔伯特．斯科特爵士设计的红色电话亭。

Vocabulary:

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

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

frosted:（玻璃）毛边的，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）