Last I was over there, they still politely called it the “WC,” water closet, or less politely, the ‘loo. Quite the soaring contraptions for toilets, too, with the tank at the ceiling on occasion. Gravity fed? No idea. Not standardized at all, so you never knew with what you’d be confronted, when nature called.
That was twenty years ago, though, with walkup coldwater flats, and a coin-fed timer to keep the power on, lol. Their working class put up with way more deprivation than our poor ever did.
I was in England (and Northern Ireland, where my mom’s from) in 1983. The “facilities” were better than what we found in Holland in 2003, even at Mom’s cousins’ farm in Derry.
I never heard anyone say “toilet” in Europe at all. Even in Holland, the signs for the can said, “W.C,” and don’t even consider asking where’s the “Ladies’ “?
Obama has three full years left in office. He's only just begun to stuff us down the sewer pipe.