Column: Bath day blues to help save water

Listening to a recent radio programme the chat was about ways of conserving water.

Not too much of a problem for us – at the moment – but I know it is more of an issue down south.

However, one of the suggestions was to share a bath.

This, of course, led to the inevitable question ‘who would you want to share it with?’.

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I immediately shouted out “George Clooney” – in the knowledge there was little hope of the man himself after wanting to scrub my back ...

But I was glad there was no-one around at the time to hear my anguished plea!

However, it later turned out my mother had been listening to the very same programme and was ready to give me her thoughts on it.

“Of course, they didn’t mean actually share a bath at the same time,” she explained.

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“No,” I sighed, seeing my dreams of gorgeous George disappearing over the horizon.

“But it didn’t used to be an unusual thing you know,” she added.

“What?” I replied. Once again she had me perplexed.

“Well we used to share baths all the time when I was young.

“Every Sunday night my mum, your granny, would get the big tin bath in front of the fire and boil up what seemed like gallons of water.

“She would fill it up and then we would get carbolic soap – none of your fancy smelling stuff or bubbles and take it in turns to go in the bath.”

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“So did a couple of you go in the same water?” I queried, not quite sure if I was going to like the answer.

“No silly. We all did. You couldn’t heat up all that water every time someone came out of the bath.

“My father was first and then it was my two older brothers, then me, then my little sister,” she answered.

“You mean that you all used the same water and you were the fourth person to go in it?” I’m sure you could hear the surprise in my voice.

“Yes, and after my little sister it was mum’s turn.”

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She then said that for the rest of the week it was a case of getting washed down in the scullery so a bath in front of the fire was considered a luxury.

Given that I can have a shower before work and think nothing of coming home and slipping into a luxurious bubble bath, I was stunned.

Some days I’m glad that I live in 2018!

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