How often are you dirty and sweaty enough to need that shower or bath?
After having squeezed the last spongeful of gel out of the bottle for my morning shower, I opened the cupboard to get a replacement. Shampoos, conditioners, tablets of soap, bath foam, all present and correct, but no shower gel. For some reason it had got left off the shopping list.
The gel I use is quite ordinary, soap-free, perfume-free stuff, not expensive, but our little local shop doesn't stock it. The nearest supermarket, which is a 9-mile drive away, does.
So, on a free Saturday morning, a nice sunny morning I could have used for anything at all, I got the car out and drove the 18 mile roundtrip to buy a bottle of shower gel.
It was only afterwards that I realised how very foolish I had been.
Yesterday I had one of these conversations with a fellow dog-walker, a male in his early seventies, about the 'old days'; he told me about his life before the days of hot and cold running water; how the tin bath was taken off the nail on the wall once a week, put in front of the open fire and filled with hot water from the kettle. I've heard it said that the same water was used for bathing several children, one after the other. Being an only child I was spared the indignity of shared bath water. (He also told me about the privy at the back of the house, which his family shared with the people who lived upstairs.) In those days children got dirty, coming home muddy was a badge of honour. Mud meant fun.
The conversation with my dog-walking companion ended with a phrase elders are extremely fond of: "....and it never did us any harm..."
Children don't get dirty nowadays, much less the ordinary adult. Except on hot summer days I never normally get into a sweat, and the only time I get dirty is when I've spent a day in grimy London or another big city or worked in the garden.
I love it when I can see from the state of my arms and legs that I've done some real, honest-to-goodness dirty work, when I've been digging, planting, or on my knees, my face close to the soil and muddy hands pinning my hair behind my ears.
Like today, in fact. Today I needed my shower. Lashings of hot water, a soapy sponge and a warm bathroom, what bliss.
If I'm honest, I have to say I'm glad that the days of tin baths are over.
Hello:
ReplyDeleteWhen we arrived back in Brighton recently we found to our complete dismay that the boiler had died. No heat, no hot water, no nothing, zilch. Of course, the only thing that we really, really wanted was a hot bath. And so,nothing for it but to boil kettles and saucepans of water to fill the bath. Never before have we appreciated so much the turning on of a hot water tap!!
Perhaps we all must face a little adversity in order to be truly grateful?!!
Well, I suppose I will have to admit that when I was very young we took our baths in a metal washtub and, yes, we shared bathwater. It's not easy pumping water from the well and heating it on a wood-heated cook stove. You conserve. We also had a privy down at the far end of the clothesline. For some reason my mother referred to it as a biffy. those were lean times and I'm not sure I want to think about how we may have possibly stayed clean between times. I have not nurtured that memory cell.
ReplyDeleteNow, like you, I love to have a shower after a particularly satisfying day in the gardens. I continue to marvel at how hot water comes out of the wall.
Love that "rain" shower.
I rarely get really dirty (Spring and Summer, it's possible) but I do get incredibly sweaty three times a week at yoga.
ReplyDeleteFeels so good.
A huge fan of the hot bath/shower,
Pearl
I am totally thankful for hot and cold running water and my shower. But I don't mind getting dirty at all. I like to get dirty, to get physical and sweat. Well, sometimes I could do without all the sweat.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that wonderful shower in the morning ... I love it! But the one after a day's hard work in the sun or after running - that one feels special, or should I say: well-earned?
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Frauke
Just like your dog-walker friend, we had a tin bath and privy, when I was a small boy. And, yes, we shared bath-water. Surprise, surprise...we're still here!
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think I could get through the working day without having a shower first thing to wake me up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for me there's nothing like going away for a few days on a fishing or camping trip, not washing properly in all that time, and then returning home to all the comforts that modern living allows. We can get the best of both worlds.
And I'm so glad that we don't have to wash our hair in the old way. I'm thinking of all those Victorian women with waist length hair and just a tin bath and a block of soap to wash it with. Ugh! No, I agree that hot water and modern toiletries are one of the best aspects of civilisation!
ReplyDeleteI treasure one at the end of the day, and especially when I used to be able to garden. AFter loading and spreading cartful after cartful of mulch all around my plantings. Raking it, finishing touches, but exhausting work.
ReplyDeleteI love to end a day. It makes me dreams flow.
What on earth is shower gel? What's wrong with soap?
ReplyDeleteOne has to be adaptable. Your carbon footprint just went up. Shame on you!
I'm so glad Gardener came back....
It is immensely more satisfying to shower at the end of a day than at the beginning of it. Whether or not I'm actually DIRTY, it feels as if I'm washing off the stickiness of the day's annoyances. I sleep better when I shower in the evening.
ReplyDeleteMy husband grew up in a house without a bathroom so I'm used to tales of tin baths!
ReplyDeletegosh i remember coming home days and just reeking of stink and dirt as a kid...many now stay in the house glued to the tv...sad....
ReplyDeleteIt was already in the morning when I happily looked forward of having a shower in the evening. Much needed. Please have a good Thursday.
ReplyDeletedaily athens photo
I had a friend who once said to her daughter, with a first born and full of anxiety about germs: God made dirt. Dirt is good. Sort of sums it up.
ReplyDeleteSidenote: Mom comes to visit tomorrow for a week, so I'll be largely absent from the internet. I can see already I'm going to have a lot to catch up on in a week's time!
I love a hot shower, more than most anything. I love to need one, but there are times when I take on even when I don't actually NEED one. Many times I really do get dirty and sweaty!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love to bathe and shower, I have to say that I believe we've become rather obsessive about it all. None of us needs to be fully immersed twice or even once a day. We've come to the point where we think there's something dirty about a good wash with a basin of warm water and that's a shame because we have become very wasteful in the western world.
ReplyDeleteOf course I shall end my day with a long, hot soak. Mea Culpa.
A post of unadulterated filth, Friko! And I loved it!
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were little they would get very dirty when they went to visit Nana and Papa. They didn't have baths either because they didn't want to have a bath and Nana and Papa let them do whatever they wanted. The second they walked in the door I made them each go and have a bath. We had two full bathrooms. Spoiled. Spoiled. Spoiled.
ReplyDeleteFriko, I am very happy that I missed the era of the tin bath.
ReplyDeleteIndoor running water with temperature control is a welcome modern wonder!
Gel or soap...well that is up to the bather.
xo
I am so easily pleased nowadays. When I wake up in the morning with the sun, not before mind you, my first thoughts are like a mantra -- orange juice coffee, orange juice coffee... And this makes me happy to get up. But the morning rituals could not be complete without that hot shower with that special tea tree soap and shampoo. Sound like a walking advertisement, don't I?
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember the days of the tin bath tub. I was only 3 or 4 when we got "inside plumbing," so it is just a far away (60+ years) memory. With having to heat that much water, it is no wonder that the baths were weekly, not daily, as now.
ReplyDeleteAfter 20 years showering out on deck, I'm still enthralled by hot water in privacy!
ReplyDeleteSweat? Why yes, this is Hawaii, Dear
Aloha from Waikiki;
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >
As a youngster I was bathroom supervisor. I had 6 siblings before we got hot and cold running water and no-one celebrated more than me. I'd bathe the youngest, then the second youngest and so on until it was my turn to use the water, by which time, no matter how quickly I tried to clean the younger ones, it would be cold. I'd be pretty well wet from head to toe by then anyway. I've never enjoyed a bath since the day the shower was installed when I was about 12. It's showers all the way for me! And it's never better than when I am hot and sweaty from outside work. I still think it's a wonderful modern day luxury!
ReplyDeleteclean might not be green, but it is nice!
ReplyDeleteHi Friko .. love your historical interlude of the shower gel .. tin baths and all .. we shared baths too - but I don't drive 18 miles for something I've forgotten especially on a sunny day .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteequally - you could have used the tablet of soap?
ReplyDeleteWe recently had some problems with plumbing and had to turn off the house water supply for a day. Oh my goodness, you don't realise just how often you want to use water until it's not there. I'm hugely grateful that we have clean water on tap. We had a tin bath when we were little kids but usually only the youngest child was washed in it, the rest of us shared a bath in the full sized tub upstairs. Arguments over who sat at the plughole end. Happy days.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually muddy and wet through by the time I've finished walking the dogs so I need a shower and a change of clothes then. Every day I am thankful for the blessing of running hot (and cold) water.
ReplyDeleteOnly when we don't have access to the running hot and cold water, we appreciate the luxury of it. When we moved into this house, we didn't have running hot water for a week. The only good thing about that was that my hair was very shiny. Washing it with cold water does that.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in the country our well went dry and we had to go to town to bathe at my Mom's house. I never appreciated hot and cold running water as much as I did during the months it took us to find more water and getting a new well drilled. After over 60 years I haven't lost my appreciation for water that flows out of a tap.
ReplyDeleteOnly this morning, I commented to David that I hoped Allen the dog groomer could not smell me when we dropped the dogs off. I need a bath or shower too. I hate taking the time away from a book or my garden, but occasionally I must bathe. Dianne
ReplyDeleteGood evening, dear Friko-- confession: I hate to shower. It is dreadfully dull. Perhaps if my life made me dirtier, I should like it more? ;)
ReplyDeleteI, too, am glad that the "good old days" have passed. I like my indoor plumbing, showers with plenty of hot water, electric lights, telephones, and, yes, computers. I had none of these as a child. There are primitive campgrounds where one can go to experience all these things, in the odd chance one gets nostalgic for "the good old days." Please excuse me from joining you; I believe I have a funeral to attend that day. Jim
ReplyDeleteThe joy of a shower when one is really dirty makes getting dirty and sweaty worthwhile. Simple pleasures...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. My long, hot showers are one my favorite luxuries in life. I also love to go out and dig in the dirt and get tired and dirty. Then, a shower is so refreshing and one feels invigorated again.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I always shared a bath on Saturdays before church on Sundays. I don't remember being bathed during the week. I don't think we were unless we got dirty out in the yard playing.
I think it's true that we rarely get dirty these days. How many times a day do we wash our hands? We're obsessed. I love my showers and baths though. I love a wonderful hot shower in the morning to wake me up and a long, relaxing soak in the bath at night. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
I don't like getting dirty but I love a great rain shower.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
I like the feeling of earning a shower, but I do take them frequently~perhaps a little too frequently. I would have done the round-trip for the body lotion I liked for sure. ~Mary
ReplyDeleteYou have touched my heart witht his post. Last week I helped my friend get his way too big back yard in order - tons of Florida fauna and vegetable gardens, fruit trees, etc.
ReplyDeleteI love getting dirty doing this real love work. I was so filthy every day and I loved it. Took me hours to scrub and watch all that dirty water on the shower floor. It was like being back home and picking cotten or potatoes after the combine, harvesting apples from the orchard - it's like doing god's work. the earth smells so good.
I ended the week exhausted and feeling the best I've felt in too many years. Working the earth is blessed.
I suppose that tin bath was a luxury in its time as a good hot shower is to us now. But you're right about the pleasure of a really earned cleansing. It's so much more rewarding than the everyday shower.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually in the bath/shower when i realise I've run out of soap/shower gel etc... I've usually forgotten to put it on the list by the time I'm out & dried!
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to have never experienced a tin bath!
My problem is that it is such an effort to get dressed that I can only face one shower a day; baths are a thing of the past. Oh dear, I really must take myself to task.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I really miss living on a boat is a long daily soak in the bath, showers just aren't the same for me :-(
ReplyDeleteDi
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