The Bathroom Cricket

Yesterday, I went to the bathroom. This is something I tend to do on a daily basis--go figure. However, this was no ordinary bathroom experience. Before you start forming your own idea in your mind, I better get to the point of this story quickly.

There was a cricket in the bathroom. Yes, a cricket in the women's bathroom by the large cafeteria. I walked through the bathroom doors (which I think have been painted recently - a nice fuchsia pink colour), searched out a relatively clean stall with a flushed toilet, latched the door, and heard the unmistakable "chirp chirp" of a cricket. Initially, I thought I was hearing things. Classes can make you go a little stir crazy, as can sitting for hours in the library doing readings or studying; so, of course, I thought I was hearing noises or maybe regressing to a childhood mental state which hopefully would not end catatonically (this would be very inconvenient and embarrassing to have happen whilst using the facilities - I'm sure you can imagine why). But no, the noise was definitely real.

My next theory was that someone had an interesting ringtone and was receiving many texts in the stall next to me. I have heard frog ringtones, so I assume there are cricket ones as well. I thought said person must miss summer and was living vicariously through her ringtone. Each time she received a text she was transported away from the -37 weather and back to her favourite summer evening, sitting in a rainforest in the Amazon, surrounded by the soothing chirp of thousands of crickets - or something similar anyway. But no. My stall neighbour left and the noise continued. I then saw the cricket. She (it WAS a women's bathroom) was sitting in the corner of my stall, contently chirping away.

I think the washrooms should have nature CDs playing when we enter. It would make my cricket friend feel more at home during these winter months and create a more soothing atmosphere; a trip to the washroom could feel like a mini vacation!