Mr VOW is a bath person. He’s not as flexible as he used to be in his younger years, and his Parkinson’s contributes to this. Now he’s having severe back pain.
I saved up the money and bought a Safe Step tub. I figured he’d be in there every night. My sister-in-law sent him a bunch of rubber duckies for his tub.
He rarely uses it. I think it’s some kind of guilt trip, I wish I knew. Instead he tells me, “Oh, the tub will help your back, you use it!”
My grandparents had one of those. Which was also little used.
It seems part of the problem they had with enjoying it is you need to get undressed, climb in, sit there, then turn on the water. With the result that you’re in the cold for a long time before there’s enough water, and hot water, to begin to undo the thorough chilling you just got, plus of course your original idea of having a warm soak.
ISTM those are one of those ideas that sound better in principle than they are in practice. If you could indeed walk in, shut the door, push a button, and the tub was instantly full of perfect temperature water they’d be a LOT more useful.
Because of the scolding from someone I liked and admired, especially since I’d been patting myself on the back for having the ingenuity to bring the corded phone into the bathroom. I had no idea that my frying was possible and even now I find it difficult to picture.
Mostly play with toys. I was probably less than 8 years old the last time I took a shower so that’s not unusual. That’s when I realized I didn’t like being in a rapidly cooling soup or my own filth.
The voltages associated with talking on a conventional corded phone are not dangerous.
The voltages associated with a conventional corded phone ringing are dangerous. So the nightmare scenario is you have the phone hung up but perched precariously on the tub edge. It rings, you reach for it and clumsily knock it into the water. Yet somehow the handset doesn’t separate from the base and so the phone continues to ring while underwater. Now you’re in bad shape.
The other highly theoretical concern is what if the phone wires up on the pole are struck by lightning?
All of these “wives tales” originated in the 1930s and 1940s when phone were new tech, electricity itself was widely distrusted as too dangerous to use indoors, etc. Consider also the difference between the layout and free space in a 1930s bathroom and a 1960s bathroom. More counterspace, more floor space, etc. Lots of ways to use a phone without need for it to be perched on the edge of a thin-sided tub.
I dig baths. I have to take soaks every so often to help with a cyst condition I have. My tub is just big enough for me to sit in a reclining position so I sit and scroll my phone for a bit. Unfortunately it’s pretty painful on my spine the next day, so I try not to do it too often or for too long.
If I had a big tub I’d be doing a proper soak and relax at least once a week.
Same here. I may have taken one as an adult to relieve achy muscles, but that’s so long ago I can’t remember. We had the tub in our last two houses removed/replaced. We were warned that it would affect the resale value, and it did: we doubled the purchase price.
I know a kid who was killed by lightning while he was on the phone.
I know that sounds like the start to an urban legend but I knew the kid. Went to school with him. I just checked and the article is still in the New York Times archive.
People don’t know what they’re missing if they look down on baths.
I soak in a warm, not hot, bath every day, because that’s the only way I can relax the muscles in my back that seize up at night. Takes the pain down from unbearable to tolerable.
But I take a book in with me, sink down until just my hands and head are out of the water, and read for 20-30 minutes as the heat permeates my body. That feels great and is great for reading as well. If I’m having an especially bad day, I’ll put the book down, close my eyes, and bask.
In 2005 we had the bathroom redone to have a big porcelain tub, and since then I’ve been a regular bather, particularly when I’m cold in the winter. I discovered early on that it was absolutely the least-likely place to be pestered by any family members, and so I would often just go there to read in quiet solitude.
Much less pestering occurs now, with 1.5/3.0 kids out of the house, but it’s still a great place if I want to concentrate on what I’m reading.
Valid point about sitting nekkid, waiting for the tub to fill.
The tub is not one of those older, porcelain on steel jobs. Those things cooled down your nice warm bath in no time! The newer acrylic (or whatever the Hell they are) don’t drain your body heat while you sit and wait. Ours also has a hand held shower attachment, so you can spray yourself with warm water while the tub fills.
Safe Step tubs have a super duper drain that empties the tub quickly, again, cutting the time your wet nekkidness has to wait to get out.
The tub also comes with a waterproof card with the instructions to turn on the jets and the ionized bubbles. There are even colored lights and a Bluetooth connection so you can soak to your favorite playlist.
The part for your feetsies and the seat for your butt are textured, to reduce slipping injuries.
I will clean the tub so Mr VOW can take a bath tonight! (Everything gets dusty out here in AZ!)
I rarely take baths and typically only if I’m sick or trying to nurse a sore muscle but, each time I hear people say how “gross” it is, I wonder how dirty y’all let yourselves get before you bathe
I like baths over showering (other than the inefficiency) and I like metal baths - Victorian claw foot, though they tend to be narrow, and I like the initimacy of sharing a bath. It is relaxation time. My ex and I would often have great conversation and planning meetings in the bath. Often refills were required to keep it warm.
I have several times fallen asleep in a bath (obviously when solo bathing) which can cause unfortunate waking up side effects that are not so pleasant. Cold water, weird neck pains… drowning (well, no, never went underwater, so that is exaggerating)
My favourite bath is one on a friend’s farm, outdoors in a deserted area, powered by fire-fed iron oven/geyser we call a “donkey” with magnificent night sky views, far, far away from light pollution. A bottle of wine on the side, a beautiful woman to share both… heaven.
ETA, if “stuff” in the bath includes recreational sex, then, yes, I have dabbled in it, but it is both cramped and uncomfortable. Why bother when there is nothing but a towel dry between you and the bed? Not on my to-do-again list.
Possibly going out of boundaries of this topic, but non-recreational sex involves an awkward condom moment, and well, wet skin and wet latex… two substances that add a significant amount of time to combine to create one safe body part.
for certain values of recreation. I chose the most strict. Not trying to re-create someone with half my genes.
Isn’t it recreational sex that’s going to involve condoms?
I always took the term to mean “non-procreational sex”: that is, that recreational sex is sex purely for the fun of it, with no children intended to ensue.
Procreational sex of course can also be fun. But only in unusual circumstances would it involve condoms.
