Speaking of baths...

It seems like taking a bath (rather than showering) is much more common here in the UK.  I've never been much of a bath-taker, and I haven't really fallen into the habit since arriving here.  Personally, I don't feel clean after a bath and end up taking a shower anyway.

Does the UK take more baths per capita than the US?  Or do I just hang around with bath-a-holics?  ;-)

Oh the whole bath thing here drives me mad!  

At my DF's paren'ts old house in Newcastle they had an ancient roll-top claw foot tub which was great for a long soak (I could float in it and I am not exactly small!). But, it took almost 20 minutes to fill as you could only run one tap at a time for some reason. This is the house the DF grew up in and at one time there were 5 of them. How they managed daily bathing is beyond me but this is also my future MIL who had 3 children under 3 and a husband allergic to house work in the early 70s and no washing machine - she did it all by hand!

We have a tub in our flat now that we attached what I call a 'stethascope' to to get a shower. The problem is that the boiler is not good for showers so I spend ages adjusting the temp. I hate the tub as it's too narrow and short for proper soak, should I be so mad as to actually want one.

What kills me is people I know recently renovating a bathroom with top of the line everything and STILL not putting a shower in it! [smiley=speechless.gif]

i love baths to relax in but not to bathe every day.

At my fiancee's old flat that's the only option and i HATED getting into the tub knowing others had sat in there and bathed....i tried to clean it every time but it wasn't as clean as i wanted....if i'm going to be putting my toosh where others have i want it SPIC AND SPAN.

BLAH.  Showers are KEY.

i love baths to relax in but not to bathe every day.

At my fiancee's old flat that's the only option and i HATED getting into the tub knowing others had sat in there and bathed....i tried to clean it every time but it wasn't as clean as i wanted....if i'm going to be putting my toosh where others have i want it SPIC AND SPAN.

BLAH.  Showers are KEY.

Ooh I know what you mean. I have a friend who actually likes taking baths in motels!! Just recently she was staying at a motel and called me from her mobile while soaking in the tub and it just really sicked me out. (Not the fact she was naked and talking to me on the phone..we've been friends a looonngg time ) but the fact that she was in a MOTEL BATHTUB!! where many many people have probably done god knows what in.

**disclaimer** This is being posted by a OC person who takes her own sheets and pillows when staying in motels and practically stands on her toenails while in the shower for fear of touching where strange naked people have been.

I have a friend who actually likes taking baths in motels!! Just recently she was staying at a motel and called me from her mobile while soaking in the tub and it just really sicked me out. (Not the fact she was naked and talking to me on the phone..we've been friends a looonngg time ) but the fact that she was in a MOTEL BATHTUB!! where many many people have probably done god knows what in.

Tell me about it! The only place outside of my home i'll take a bath is a Ritz Carleton.....and even THEN i'm skeptical.  

**disclaimer** This is being posted by a OC person who takes her own sheets and pillows when staying in motels and practically stands on her toenails while in the shower for fear of touching where strange naked people have been.

Now, l am saying this with the utmost love for ya Melissa! K?   Oh yeah and l am being cheeky today!!  

What about strange dead people? Motels are prime crime scene spots!    

Flip flops are great for unknown showers and I refuse to take a bath in motels.  

LOL - "Refuse to bath in Motels". I am right there will you....I also don't like touching the bedspread. I hear that don't always clean them after each guest although that could be a rumor. I always think about that when I first enter a room.  I saw this silly but interesting item in an airline magizine it was a travel human sleeping cover made of silk so it was easily portable. The picture showed a woman zipped up from shoulders to feet laying on top of the hotel bed. Now that's taking it to the extreme but I have to say after traveling every week for almost two years I started to really dislike hotel rooms even though I was staying in nice ones.

I guess there really is nothing like your own bed!  

Julie

Errrmmm.... I'm a bather.
I have a bath every day, sometimes twice a day.
My DH is a bather as well... we dont have a shower in our house, and if we re-did the bathroom we still wouldnt have a shower put in... we'd just get a bigger bath!    We are both quite clean and dont find anything disgusting about having a bath instead of a shower.  

I have been known, however, to take Flash wipes with me if we are going to a hotel.  I like to make sure the bathroom is clean to my standards.

Oh the whole bath thing here drives me mad!  

This is the house the DF grew up in and at one time there were 5 of them. How they managed daily bathing is beyond me but this is also my future MIL who had 3 children under 3 and a husband allergic to house work in the early 70s and no washing machine - she did it all by hand!

My husband was one of 6, and I was one of 4 in houses with just one bathroom and no shower. I know it sounds shocking now, but in the sixties/early seventies daily bathing wasn't actually the norm in all families,owing to inadequate boilers, cost of gas/electricity etc.  Also  clothes were much harder to wash - school uniforms especially were not machine or even hand washable, and had to be dry cleaned, which perhaps could only be afforded every holidays. In fact because public smoking was so common clothes got dirty even faster than they do today.I suppose everyone was a bit less clean and consequently we didn't notice it; the further back you go the grubbier the population probably was. I don't think we were ill any more frequently though.

HME, yes, I know things were quite different even 15 years ago and I think us Yanks have the market cornered on obsessive cleanliness. Since the DF was one of 3 boys, I expect bathing for them was a right chore and did not happen every day!  

What's really funny is that my doc told me not to shower every day because I have such sensitive skin whereas the DF is so obsessed he even showered today BEFORE going to the gym! LOL!

Even now showers are'nt the "standard" in every home over there, albeit they are becoming more and more as time goes by. Personally I don't mind a good hot soak at times but opt for a shower mostly out of convenience. When I'm there babysitting for my grandchildren I think nothing of throwing 3 of them in the bath at one time, loading it up with bubbles, closing the door and telling em that I don't wanna see them again until theyre squeaky clean. I did it with my own when they were little too. I've read on more than one occasion that constant use of some of the anti-bacterial soaps reduce system immunity  and can interfere with thyroid function so I stopped using them a few years ago......who knows......wait long enough and what was once good is suddenly bad and visa-versa :-/

i gotta say, in regards to the showers.....the half glass partition instead of a shower curtain that i have seen at a lot of places confuses me.

Df's parents have this, leaving me to stand up in the tub with open air to my right while the glass partition only makes sure the water doesn't splash when coming out of the nozzle.  V. strange.  I'm always worried that when i'm washing my hair water is going everywhere.  

showers are'nt the "standard" in every home

I must admit to some puzzlement here, Celtic.  For myself I cannot remember being in a British home that didn't have one, at least not in the last three decades.

For myself I cannot remember being in a British home that didn't have one, at least not in the last three decades.

Ours is broken at the moment.  Does that count?    Teenage girls can be hell on the plumbing system.