"No idea"
Well Neil was right – when I finally got the package it did quite clearly state: “Fermette Director” and we still had no clue as to what it was.
Neil was adamant that we couldn't open it until Xmas day when there were a few friends around and quite a lot of drinks had been imbibed. We had absolute hysterics when we actually opened it, were still in confusion on seeing what it was and had to succumb to reading the instructions to figure out what it actually was.
Here's a picture of it - it was bought from REI the Usonian outdoor online equipment store (in case you are wondering what a Usonian is check out my blog from Thursday 21st Jan 2010) and has sometime in the last 5 years been renamed a Sani-Fem Freshette F.U.D. (or Feminine Urinary Director)
I never met anyone in the next 5 years who had ever heard of it but it was one of the best pieces of kit I ever had.
Richard loved it as we could have “who can pee the furtherest” competitions – though of course he always won having had a few more decades experience.
It’s brilliant in many ways (no splashing on your legs for starters) but definitely it came into it’s own in Siberia in the summer when the mosquitoes were rampant. We wore mosquito nets over our heads continually and waterproof jackets & trousers even though we sweated like mad as they would just bite through normal clothes. If I’d had to pull my trousers down to pee I might never have been able to sit on the bike seat again!
Also – I have to be honest – I adored having the freedom of just peeing against a tree in a busy city when no free or bearable toilet was available. No one ever expects a women to pee against a tree so they just don’t realise what you are up to. There are several towns in Russia that I recall having that pleasure in.
It was actually originally developed for women mountaineers so that they didn't have to exit the tent in the middle of the night at high altitude in the middle of a snowstorm. It's not much fun and a long, lengthy process peeling off the layers under those conditions with the constant worry of frost bite on the rear end. Men have for decades got away with staying snug in their sleeping bags and just filling an empty plastic bottle when the urge came upon them at 2am.
And YES – I can now vouch that not having to scamper out of the tent in the middle of the night when it’s snowing, raining or howling makes it worth it’s weight in gold.
But the best thing about it was I ALWAYS had a fun & slightly dis-believable topic of conversation for people I met on route – I’ve never met anyone who didn’t get a kick out of hearing or seeing it (though I generally drew the line at demonstrating how to use it!!!)
Having been without one for over a year it had been increasingly preying on my mind how much I actually missed it.
So when I saw that the Travelling Two were not only reviewing 3 similar models but they were also running a competition and giving 2 lucky winners one each, I couldn't by pass the chance of getting one. To enter all one had to do was right a comment on their website saying why I wanted one. Well to be honest I pretty much wrote most of what I've written here.
It's quite ridiculous how happy I was 5 days later when I received an email from Friedel saying I had won one and asking which model I wanted. I pumped for the Whiz Freedom - basically because it had the longer extension and the Pink Go-Girl & accompanying T-shirt wasn't really my style - just hope Bky the other winner doesn't choose the same one - can you imagine squabbling over which Pee Device you are going to get?
In case you're wondering about the other items in the package they were equally as much fun. The glasses were in fact plastic champagne glasses that unscrewed and folded into themselves so they were ont only lightweight but took up a tiny space and the book was "Sex in the Outdoors: A Humorous Approach to Recreation" by Buck Tilton.
Source: www.velomad.com