"If every small item, let us pick for example, a toilet roll, although it's a perfectly legitimate thing to claim for and should be claimed for... nonetheless if the Barnstaple Bugle seeks to make something of it then that will happen, " he said.

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Outhouse races, held in towns and cities across the western US, let teams compete in their own portable potties, complete with four sides, a roof, a toilet seat and even a roll of toilet paper.

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On our desks, we had the essential supplies of the time: a bag of cookies, a pile of letters, an electric typewriter, a bottle of Liquid Paper and a roll of toilet paper.

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What seems like a ritual to others is really just practical, she says: Always do it in the same sink -- the process is "gross, but so good" she says in her iReport -- and always have a roll of toilet paper next to me.

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Here, a bewildering number of categories - from "biggest onion" to "best crocheted matinee jacket" and "best mini-landscape, in a tray, made of eggshells and toilet roll" - showcases the skill and ingenuity of the community.

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Running out of toilet roll and having difficulty contacting a Chinese takeaway have been revealed as some of the 999 calls made to Devon and Cornwall Police in 2012.

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The company added that its Coleshill Mill site was a "key operation" in the supply of branded toilet roll, facial tissue and wipers.

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