Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Le Probleme du Jour
I hate getting used to new showers. There's always an issue that must be overcome before you can actually take a comfortable shower...the handle is on backwards, or the temperature is difficult to regulate, all the natural causes that you get used to in time and automatically adjust when you turn on the water. However, my life, being fraught with bad luck on a normal day, seems to attract all the unusual problems that can't be fixed with time...or money, or stress...
The shower at this new place reminds me of a movie I watched when I was a child. It was a "made-for-tv" spook flick about a haunted house (or something--I was very young). A woman was taking a shower and the ghost (or whatever-it-was) locked the door and turned the heat up on the shower irretrievably until she was scorched to death. For the last four days, I have been attempting to find the spot on the handle that I like to refer to as the "just right" spot. However, this shower doesn't have one of those. As I start my shower, I wash my hair first, then put in the conditioner, which should stay in till the very last thing while I clean everything else. I wash my face and then my body, etc...As I am doing all of this, the water is gradually getting warmer and warmer. By the time I finish washing my face, I have to turn the knob to a cooler setting...and continue. At the elbows, I have to cool it down again. By the time I reach the "rinsing of the soap", and get ready for the "rinsing of the conditioner", the water is almost unbearable, and is at it's coolest setting.
I swear this hotel has it set at this rate as a "long shower" deterrent. You know, one of those water/energy saving things...wouldn't surprise me here...
Let me copy a journal entry about a time when Karim and I went to Cairo to visit family and had a lovely shower experience:
February 1, 2004:
The shower at Mahmoud and Mai's:
It is a complicated piece of machinery, probably dating back to 1978 or some such time when brown and green were popular home decorating colors. The system is in itself an art, and as you begin, you wonder if it wouldn't be much simpler to rent a room in a hotel somewhere. First, you have to turn on the pump to ensure the presence of water. Then you turn on the hot water, letting it run into a large red bucket until the water is hot enough to flip the shower valve. Once the valve is open, you have appx. 10 seconds to get wet all over before the water turns cold and you have to flip the valve back and let the water run as before, (while you shampoo. When it is warm again, you rinse. As it again is heating up, you soap yourself down, and then rinse when it's finished warming.) It is a back and forth process, where, by the time you are finished you are convinced that a hotel room would be a bargain at any price, and that as soon as you are dry you intend to reserve a room at the Nile Hilton.
Someday, I'm going to have a real home with a real shower that gives me real water at a normal, comfortable temperature. And when people come to visit me, I can turn the water heater up really high, so that I can conserve water and keep my guests from returning. Oh, what a wonderful life some people must have...
The shower at this new place reminds me of a movie I watched when I was a child. It was a "made-for-tv" spook flick about a haunted house (or something--I was very young). A woman was taking a shower and the ghost (or whatever-it-was) locked the door and turned the heat up on the shower irretrievably until she was scorched to death. For the last four days, I have been attempting to find the spot on the handle that I like to refer to as the "just right" spot. However, this shower doesn't have one of those. As I start my shower, I wash my hair first, then put in the conditioner, which should stay in till the very last thing while I clean everything else. I wash my face and then my body, etc...As I am doing all of this, the water is gradually getting warmer and warmer. By the time I finish washing my face, I have to turn the knob to a cooler setting...and continue. At the elbows, I have to cool it down again. By the time I reach the "rinsing of the soap", and get ready for the "rinsing of the conditioner", the water is almost unbearable, and is at it's coolest setting.
I swear this hotel has it set at this rate as a "long shower" deterrent. You know, one of those water/energy saving things...wouldn't surprise me here...
Let me copy a journal entry about a time when Karim and I went to Cairo to visit family and had a lovely shower experience:
February 1, 2004:
The shower at Mahmoud and Mai's:
It is a complicated piece of machinery, probably dating back to 1978 or some such time when brown and green were popular home decorating colors. The system is in itself an art, and as you begin, you wonder if it wouldn't be much simpler to rent a room in a hotel somewhere. First, you have to turn on the pump to ensure the presence of water. Then you turn on the hot water, letting it run into a large red bucket until the water is hot enough to flip the shower valve. Once the valve is open, you have appx. 10 seconds to get wet all over before the water turns cold and you have to flip the valve back and let the water run as before, (while you shampoo. When it is warm again, you rinse. As it again is heating up, you soap yourself down, and then rinse when it's finished warming.) It is a back and forth process, where, by the time you are finished you are convinced that a hotel room would be a bargain at any price, and that as soon as you are dry you intend to reserve a room at the Nile Hilton.
Someday, I'm going to have a real home with a real shower that gives me real water at a normal, comfortable temperature. And when people come to visit me, I can turn the water heater up really high, so that I can conserve water and keep my guests from returning. Oh, what a wonderful life some people must have...
Comments:
<< Home
Hey girl "COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS"
There are people with NO water at all (or homes for that matter)
Things will get better, just hang in there. Besides, you can try welfare or foodstamps for a little while, or move to the city. Get creative, you can do it.
Love is all you need, and you got it babe!
Post a Comment
There are people with NO water at all (or homes for that matter)
Things will get better, just hang in there. Besides, you can try welfare or foodstamps for a little while, or move to the city. Get creative, you can do it.
Love is all you need, and you got it babe!
# posted by 
: 12:24 AM
: 12:24 AM << Home
