Water Hot is a Noble Thing

Szechenyi Thermal Baths in Budapest

Last week, my hot water heater stopped working. At first I thought, it's not a big deal, people have lived for centuries without hot running water. But it's one of those everyday luxuries that you really don't appreciate until it's gone. 

I was without hot water for a week. A week of cold showers. A week of debating if my hair was clean enough to go without washing it. A week of wishing Humble had thermal springs, instead of an alligator-infested lake. It was fixed on Wednesday, and it was not cheap, but it was totally worth it. 

Tolkien gets it.

The Bath Song - J.R.R. Tolkien

Sing hey! For the bath at close of day

that washes the weary mud away

A loon is he that will not sing

O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,

and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;

but better then rain or rippling streams

is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need

down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed

but better is beer if drink we lack,

and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high

in a fountain white beneath the sky;

but never did fountain sound so sweet

as splashing Hot Water with my feet!"

So does Ernie