As children, my brother and I spent a lot of time in fancy restaurants, the sotto voce kinds with starched table cloths and lots of cutlery. One of my favourite pastimes, (beyond eyeing the pudding trolley) was to visit the loo. I loved the scented soaps and four-ply loo roll. I loved watching women in gleaming mirrors applying fresh lipstick and powder. Sometimes, I’d find a little basket filled with plasters, perfume, deodorant or safety pins and I’d stash something into my pockets. I loved chatting to the ladies loo attendant, although I’m not sure she always felt the same. I remember discovering automatic plastic seat covering for the first time at a posh restaurant in Palm Beach and thinking that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I think I pressed the button twenty times. These days, it’s my 7-year old daughter who makes a dash for the loo the moment we settle into our seats. Most of the time, she doesn’t even need to pee. I know I never did.