Friday, May 16, 2014

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


2 comments:

  1. After my workouts last week, I was voluntarily taking cold showers. It hurt so good. Talk about a shock!

    (Though, if I hadn't been overheated walking into the shower, I wouldn't have gone for that. Not at all.)

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    Replies
    1. I typically shower first thing in the morning, so it was very hard to convince myself to leave my nice warm bed to spray myself with cold water. But I was very alert afterward!

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