temptress
Well-Known Member
Interesting topic. A bath is the one thing that I miss living aboard. Last time I had a bath was over a year ago when we visited my parents in London.
When was the last time you had a proper bath!
- Thread starter Nostrodamus
- Start date
BrianH
Well-Known Member
It is interesting how many seem to prefer baths. I think it is due to the late acceptance of mixer taps in the UK that made the more efficient and water-saving shower a slow entry to the British bathroom. So I suspect it is all a question of adhering to warm memories and traditional habit.
I remember in the 1970s visiting London with my then Japanese wife and her ranting against the two-tap basin and bath installations in our quite up-market hotel - "how do they wash their hair?" she wailed.
There is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal quoted here: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/mhillebrandt/entry/british_peculiarities_i/
An introductory excerpt:
I remember in the 1970s visiting London with my then Japanese wife and her ranting against the two-tap basin and bath installations in our quite up-market hotel - "how do they wash their hair?" she wailed.
There is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal quoted here: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/mhillebrandt/entry/british_peculiarities_i/
An introductory excerpt:
"During a wartime visit to Moscow in 1942, Winston S. Churchill discovered a marvel of modern technology: hot and cold water flowing from the same faucet.
The plumbing in the villa where he stayed as a guest of Stalin was unlike the primitive British standard of separate taps for hot and cold. Rather than having to fill up the sink to achieve the right blend, the British leader could wash his hands under gushing water “mingled to exactly the temperature one desired,” as he put it in his memoirs. From then on, he resolved to use this method whenever possible.
His countrymen have been slow to take up the single-spigot cause. Most bathroom sinks in Britain still have separate hot and cold taps today, 60 years after Mr. Churchill’s conversion and decades after nearly all dual taps were scrapped in the U.S. and most vanished from continental Europe. For reasons of thrift, regulations and a stubborn attachment to tradition, the British have resisted the tide of plumbing history. Even when they renovate old homes, many choose two-tap systems, and builders often install them in new, low-end housing. Separate taps account for an estimated 40% of all bathroom-faucet sales in the U.K."
The plumbing in the villa where he stayed as a guest of Stalin was unlike the primitive British standard of separate taps for hot and cold. Rather than having to fill up the sink to achieve the right blend, the British leader could wash his hands under gushing water “mingled to exactly the temperature one desired,” as he put it in his memoirs. From then on, he resolved to use this method whenever possible.
His countrymen have been slow to take up the single-spigot cause. Most bathroom sinks in Britain still have separate hot and cold taps today, 60 years after Mr. Churchill’s conversion and decades after nearly all dual taps were scrapped in the U.S. and most vanished from continental Europe. For reasons of thrift, regulations and a stubborn attachment to tradition, the British have resisted the tide of plumbing history. Even when they renovate old homes, many choose two-tap systems, and builders often install them in new, low-end housing. Separate taps account for an estimated 40% of all bathroom-faucet sales in the U.K."
Leif-J
Well-Known Member
It is funny, this thread.
I cannot remember when I had my last bath. Maybe when our son was a baby and I bathed with him. He is turning 34 this year. So it has been a while.
Now we are not liveaboards yet. We will move into our boat in a month from now intending to leave our home marina on June 1 for a long cruise. We will probably miss some of the benefits of civilisation, but baths is not going to be one of them.
I cannot remember when I had my last bath. Maybe when our son was a baby and I bathed with him. He is turning 34 this year. So it has been a while.
Now we are not liveaboards yet. We will move into our boat in a month from now intending to leave our home marina on June 1 for a long cruise. We will probably miss some of the benefits of civilisation, but baths is not going to be one of them.
rustybarge
Well-Known Member
A Bath is bliss, lying there in the hot water contemplating life, topping up to get the perfect temperature, steam wafting around the echoey warm room, condensation dripping down the mirror ......ahh yes.
As you can probably guess I'm in a house at the moment.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
A Bath is bliss, lying there in the hot water contemplating life, topping up to get the perfect temperature, steam wafting around the echoey warm room, condensation dripping down the mirror ......ahh yes.
As you can probably guess I'm in a house at the moment.
Exactly and for those who associate baths with washing you really miss the point. Nothing more relaxing than removing gravity from the equation.
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
Last had a bath about 45 years ago. Much prefer a shower rather than sitting in dirty water.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
As above you are missing the point of a bath which is relaxation - I shower before each bath and I'm sure many others do the same.
Fantasie 19
Well-Known Member
I relax in an armchair with a decent beer and a cigar .... sitting in water, whatever the temperature or consistancy of it, is not relaxing.. to me anyway....
blampied
Well-Known Member
Love a bath, but no dirty water for me!
I'm one of those posh people what gets out the bath to have a pee!
NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
View attachment 41468The only problem with having a bath is keeping the water in it when it gets a bit rough!
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
If I want that, I go swimming
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
Yesterday , first one in five month , god didn't I enjoy it , dirty water or not .
Can't wait for my next one in a few days time , great knowing someone with a bath in a different country .
Can't wait for my next one in a few days time , great knowing someone with a bath in a different country .
SHUG
Well-Known Member
As Queen Elizabeth 1 said "You should have a bath once a year whether you need it or not"
Nostrodamus
Well-Known Member
We should all share showers to save water as well......
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Never had a boat big enough for a bath. Here we have five 'bath'rooms, only one has a bath in case a guest wants one. Last bath for me? Really can't remember, certainly over twenty years.