What About This…? 4.6.2017

By Wayne William Cipriano

Ah, the simple pleasures of life. So often rising from mere conveniences which themselves may have sprung from necessities.

Take water. You gotta have it.  It used to be brought from somewhere nearby into the house.  Youngsters bucked water and everyone used it sparingly.  Water is heavy to tote.

Then perhaps a pump-handled miracle produced water flow right there where you needed it.  No more bucking, just a few strokes and cold, clear, delicious water appeared.

And then, the faucet.  Gravity fed from a high cistern itself fed from a reliable source.  Or maybe a gasoline powered or electric pump.  Even a pressure tank of some kind and then water, under pressure, as much as you want, just twist the handle and out it comes.  A necessity becoming a convenience.

But next, beyond convenience enters pleasure: Hot Water!

Most of us take hot water for granted. Some remember heating water on the stove and filling a tub.  Who went first?  The neediest?  The eldest? The most respected?  The toughest?  And how many to a tub of water?  And how often?  So many decisions, so many rules when hot water was so precious.

Arrives the water heater and sing out the glee.  Sure, the dishes get done so much better; the clothes washing so much improved; the cleaning boosted.  But the real pleasures: The Tub / The Shower.

I’ll not get dragged into the debate Tub vs. Shower, though I have a very strongly held preference – and an excellent argument to back it up.  Likewise, the false dichotomy of Morning or Night (do both!).

But the simple act of luxuriating under or in hot water – as hot as you want, as often as you like, for as long as pleases you –– this is truly the necessity turned convenience evolved into pleasure.

A mere two hundred years ago only the very wealthy could indulge in hot water bathing although that penchant for warm water immersion goes back thousands of years for those rich guys.

Today, just about anyone can jump into the shower, slide into a tub and groove to water just as often, as hot, and as long as one may wish.  A simple pleasure too alluring.  I think I’ll just hop into the shower and turn on that hot water right now!