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No, I'm not talking about the age at which a young person's ideas turn lightly to the thoughts of lust... on that I'm saying nuffin!

But while a passive guest of the Derby Royal over the weekend, I found myself fretting that because of various attached tubes and cannualae I was unable to have a shower, and certainly not strong enough to have an all-over wash.
And then I got to thinking: at home as a teenager and then later briefly into digs, anything more than a weekly bath (whether I needed it or not) would have been thought a little precious. Moving into junior scientific officer accommodation on site, few of us would have admitted to more than two or three baths a week... and I don't even remember a shower being part of the package at all. Did we smell? I guess we must have done - but it never was a cause for concern, nor ever a topic of conversation, except about one or two individuals, and we had ways of dealing with them (m or f)!
Today? No daily shower? I don't think so.

Perhaps that's why Old Spice and Brut were so aggressive back in the day?

Jim, as I spent the first years in the RAF living in huts we had showers not baths. These were exceedingly small concrete stalls with a handle and chain. You pulled the chain and got wet. Soaped all over and then pulled chain to wash it all off.

Before that, at school we were permitted one bath per week in clean water. After sport we were only allowed a shower unless really muddy in which case we could have a bath, a bath of dirty water as there was not enough hot water to let everyone have a clean bath.

Water?! You were lucky! When I was a lad we had to go down to ‘t local mudpool and.........

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.... and, of course, fighting off the crocodiles to get to the soap - well, we called it soap but it were a scrunched up ball of rusty barbed wire really .....

Those of us that were born before WWII, with memories, however vague of attempting to bath in 2 inches of water, thought that the limited hot water available in the wooden huts of RAF Yatesbury absolute luxury.

As for proper showers, the only ones that I remember were at RAF Gan! Where hot water wasn't wanted. We showered to cool down.

At Bristol University I remember catching the bus each saturday morning from Brislington, where my digs were, into the centre of town where there was a house for the use of students in digs which had a bathroom. It was quite busy on a saturday morning and you had to get there quite early in order to be back at the digs in time for lunch (strictly at 1pm) or get disapproving looks from the landlady.
At home, in the cosy middle-class suburbs of north-west London we never thought about having a bath more frequently than every two or three days. Whether this was a hangover from the war or just thought an un-necessary waste of hot water I don't know.

GG.

The ancient Greeks invented showers but in recent times they only really became common in the 40s or 50s. Why? They use far less water than even your 2" of wartime bath water. Every day Mrs Ex-Ascot has an afternoon bath in our outside garden bathroom not deep but uses 50 times the water of my quick shower. Who wants to sit for an hour in dirty bath water when you can stand under a shower with the grime running off you?

Then she complains about me leaving the tap running for one minute when shaving.

Never had a shower until i went to sea when i was 17, now never have a bath. Over the last few years i have had a bath maybe once or twice a year,usually to try and sort some ache or other. I never feel clean when i get out so then go in the shower for a quick squirt all over to wash off the dirty bathwater.

Shaving, shaving? We used go to beach at New Brighton to collect razor shells. If tide were in we couldn't shave.

When I was at school our PE teacher told us that it was bad for one to have a bath or shower more than once a week, so the twice weekly swimming lessons were, according to him, all the personal hygiene we needed.

At Kibworth Beauchamp GS our PT instructor, Mike Lubbock (of Leicester Tigers) refused to allow us to wear vests and pants under our sports wear and after rugby or a cross-country run, we shared a sharpened piece of wood to scrape the clingey Leicestershire mud off us. Following which as our faces became visible we had a roll-call. I can't remember if there were showers, because as runt of the litter I was always last. If anyone wonders why today I hate everyone, that's why. My worst sporty experience until I was taught to ride by a German army instructor. The horses got showers, we didn't. Zu Befehl, Herr Ritmeister !

Gawd, aven't had a baath in years. Shower regular though. Have a bath in the bathroom, have often considered giving it a go. Do have a container of age-hardened Radox crystals from 25 to 30 years ago, just in case. With increasing years wouldn't have a problem getting in, but what if I can't get out. What then!! Would I turn to rust or just dissolve over time.

Down the Gulf (Sharjah) water for ablutions came straight out of the sea. Nobody told us you needed special salt water soap. Normal soap turned to gunk, so you're standing there covered in slime wondering what to do next. With TV and the like, adverts showing free-standing baths, thoughts turn to "how the f*ck do you clean behind or underneath it. Or do all the people who have such have slaves to sort it. Comes with being practical.

Alison, on YouTube first, we installed a small bath in our new bathroom to allow for grandchildren. Gave off a try, very comfortable but as you rightly say, getting out was a whole new experience.

And on the trendy free standing baths, we had one when boxing in was trendy. As a child I was scared of what was underneath and still have hebbie jebbies cleaning under a modern bath before it is boxed in. Aside from baths, what about the modern trend for glass walls all the way to the roof? Who cleans it?

Baths are generally disgusting, we have one here, it has been useful for post operative epsom salt baths, but shower after that. A bath...you sit in the dirty water!

Nowadays a daily ocean swim / body surf followed by an outside fresh water beachside shower, then its off to work.

At Lunchtime, repeat. (change in car park run to the beach, swim, beachside shower run back rinse in bottled water and change back into office attire..

Hometime, Dip in the pool and a rinse off with the garden hose,

Before bed another shower...lotsa soap & stuff...

I hate being sweaty and dirty...

Aside from baths, what about the modern trend for glass walls all the way to the roof? Who cleans it?

There's a cleaning product called 'shower-shine' or some such. Spray it on, shower it off; seldom need to rub if it's done regular-like, works a treat.

Nowadays a daily ocean swim / body surf followed by an outside fresh water beachside shower,

The sea is where fish piss and *****, so the shower is essential

Jim, I was talking of houses not showers. For our shower we use Shower and Forget.

The sea is where fish piss and *sh*t*, so the shower is essential

Yeah...I suppose they do...was it Dave Allen (Irish comedian?) who said he didnt drink water because thats where fish copulate?....still very clear clean crisp water here though...always have a seawater 'gargle', it's very healthy, and

I coined the phrase back in the '80s...."saltwater is tonic for the soul", it washes away everything, makes you clean and refreshed, at least in these parts of the world it does..

Pontius Navigator wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 07, 2019 12:03 pm

Jim, I was talking of houses not showers. For our shower we use Shower and Forget.

Oh, sorry. If we had glass walls, I'd just send her up every so often in a cherry-picker.

Fliegenmong wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:32 pm

The sea is where fish piss and *sh*t*, so the shower is essential

Yeah...I suppose they do...was it Dave Allen (Irish comedian?) who said he didnt drink water because thats where fish copulate?....still very clear clean crisp water here though...always have a seawater 'gargle', it's very healthy, and

I think the quote is ascribed originally to WC Fields :

“I don't drink water. Fish f*ck in it.”