Source: Aftenposten Nettutgaven
August 2, 2005 Author: Nina Berglund
A man from western Norway got a rude surprise over the weekend, when the portable toilet he was using proved to be exactly that, and he was carried away.
"I could feel that we were in motion, both the toilet and myself," said Svein Elde from Ulsteinvik. He'd been attending a meeting of a coastal association (Forbundet Kysten) in Kabelvåg, and had ducked into one of the many portable toilets moved into the area for the occasion.
Suddenly, some crews hired to cart away some of the toilets at the end of the meeting appeared to do their job. With no warning, Elde's toilet was hoisted up on a forklift.
"We were assigned to assemble all the toilets," said forklift driver HÃ¥vard Fjellsende. "I didn't see many people around, so I picked up the first toilet I saw.
"Then a few women came walking by. I joked to them that I hoped no one was using it."
The women, however, pointed to the one on his forklift and said they thought a man was inside it. "I thought they were joking back, so I didn't believe them," said Fjellsende. "Then I saw a hand."
It was Elde's. "I had tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge," he said. "I finally managed to force my hand through the top of the door opening, and started waving. That's when I heard someone say, 'Oh, I see a hand.'"
Fjellsende immediately set the toilet down. Elde was relieved, to put it mildly.
"All I could think about was what would happen if the toilet tipped over," Elde said. "Me, together with all its contents after a long weekend..."
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Nina Berglund/NTB
