Alasdair Gray source 6
442, chapter thirty-eight
workers will call in to seal up every sink, urinal and lavatory
pan. Naturally this takes time, so we invite your cooperation.
Tubes of plastic cement will soon be obtainable, on demand,
from your local police station and post office. The homes
of householders who block their own drains will receive
nothing more than a routine inspection. Meanwhile every-
one should immediately plug their sinks and fill them with
water. Lavatory pans will also stay safe for a while if they
are not actually employed. I will now pause for three min-
utes to let everyone attend to their sink.'
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Same instructions as on previous page. asterix.
Three sentences appeared on the screen
(Hand drawn arrow below with handwritten annotation '18 EMS')
PLUG YOUR SINK
FILL IT WITH WATER
DON'T FLUSH YOUR LAVATORY PAN.
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centre each line
'Have another beer,' said MacFee, passing a can across. 'You
too, Helen,'
She said, 'I'm frightened, Jimmy.'
'Frightened? Why? We're in luck at last. Mohomes don't have
lavatories. Our sink isn't connected to the sewage system.'
'But what will we do if we cannae use the public toilet?'
'I think the provost will announce plans for that,' said Lanark.
The speech had greatly impressed him. He thought, I'm glad
Rima and Sandy are in the cathedral. Ritchie-Smollet will have
taken the necessary precautions by now.
(hand drawn annotation indicating that this sentence should be linked to
following sentence).
He slipped from the can. The inscription vanished and Sludden
appeared once more.
'There is one question I am sure you are all asking
yourselves: How are we to get rid of our bodily waste?
Well, you know, that question is as old as humanity itself.
We tend to forget that interior flush lavatories are compara-
tively recent inventions, and three quarters of the world
doesn't have them. For a while we must be content to use
one of these, as our great-grandparents did.'
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He held up a chamberpot.
'Those of you with small children probably have one al-
ready. New stocks are being rushed to the shops from the
Cortexin Adhoc Sanitation plant at New Cumbernauld.
Large orders have been placed with a small factory in Un-
thank which still makes the old-fashioned earthenware arti-
cle, thus giving a much-needed boost to a neglected part
of the city's economy. And though many will have to man-
age without one for a short period, I am sure they will
be able to improvise with some other domestic utensil. As
Marginal annotation (left):
bracket encompassing paragraph plus asterix