Thinking about hard times to come set me to thinking about hard times of the past.
During the post-war years we were exhorted to bathe in not more than 2 inches of water. Our family adapted this to sharing a bath, though not together, in the way that people assume is meant today
The little ones got in first
Then mummy topped up the water & took her turn
Finally daddy got his go – he was so tall that it was only fair he should get 6 inches of lukewarm water
In fact it was not until I was in my teens that we had the luxury of being able to have a bath any time we wanted, in as much water as we wanted, at a temperature as hot as we liked
This luxury became available after we got central heating. Before then we relied on the immersion heater – a huge copper cylinder which worked on the same principle as an electric kettle. It took ages to heat up, & ‘taking all the hot water’ for a bath was a CRIME
There used to be debates over whether it was better to lag the tank or not; lagging certainly saved on your electricity bill & speeded up the water heating process, but stopped the useful transfer of heat to the airing cupboard & bathroom – domestic, if not global, warming
I had forgotten the potency of the phrase constant hot water – abbreviated to chw in property ads, even for hotels & other places you might stay only temporarily – a bit like todays en suite
I wonder what age you have to be not to take the idea of constant hot water for granted?
