Showers...

To those of you reading this who know me from back in the day when I was young and off to sea, "three minute showers" probably brings back memories. For everyone else, a quick explanation.

Ships have tanks for fresh water so in order to keep the amount of water used as small as possible we had the so called "three-minute-shower-rule". Which works pretty much like you think it does: The water was only allowed to run for three minutes during our shower. Hop in the shower, water on, water off, soap up, water on, wash of water off... aaaaaaaaaaaaaand finished. Yes, for those of you who were wondering, this is one of the reasons why when somebody says, "Shannon, you coming? We're leaving in 10 minutes!" And I say, "Yeah, sure. I gotta take a quick shower", I will actually be there in 10 minutes.

Anyway, I noticed that during long voyages when we were running low on water (or if there was no appropriate fresh water available for a while) all of the sudden the showers turned cold. Very cold. And suddenly, everyone found it much easier to take three minute showers. Hop in the shower, water on, shiver and think ?!@x#!?!, water off, soap up, hesitate a moment knowing it's going to be REALLY cold, hold you breath, water on, wash off, water off - go drink a hot cup of tea.

I think my dorm has a similar system, though admittedly it doesn't involve cold water. And yet there is a limit to the length of my showers. The drain appears to be the limiting factor: The longer you shower the more the water level rises, past your toes, ankles,...

We asked about getting it fixed and were told it wasn't an emergency... Ha. I'll show them an emergency!