Day 39: The Shower

Maybe it is because I have yet to receive my first electricity bill, that I haven't given much attention so far to saving on power.  And of course, it is summer: I have no need of heating yet, though this being Scotland, it won't be long before that becomes a fairly major issue.  As it happens, this flat has no gas supply, which is a shame, because it is usually cheaper for heating.  But at least it will be easier to keep track of the whole.  And after my epic two-year battle with the gas suppliers in a previous Edinburgh flat, which ended in an explosion of rage down the phone quite unlike anything I have ever produced before or since, I am quite glad to avoid the hassle this time.

So with the heating turned off, the main power guzzler apart from the cooker is the hot water.  Handily, it is supplied by a combination heater - it warms the water as you use it, rather than having to heat up a whole tank every time.  Even so, I have turned it far down, and only really use it for washing dishes and filling the bathroom sink.  And so far, in 39 days, I have had only one hot bath!  The shower, however, is on a separate system, one which also heats the water as it emerges.  It too is currently set at luke-warm.

I confess it: I absolutely love a boiling hot shower in the morning!  But weirdly, not in the evening.  In the same way, I can wallow for hours in a hot bath in the morning.  I can even sleep.  But in the evening, even in a bath filled with lovely lavendar-scented bubbles, I can never lounge for more than a few minutes.  And that anomaly got me to thinking ... 

For why is it that the hot shower is so desirable in the morning?  Simples: because when we wake up, we are cold.  We have not eaten since the previous evening, and our body is making no heat of its own.  That's why we need duvets, after all.  The hot shower makes up for that cold, warming the blood at the start of the day, and taking away the shivers.

Actually coffee here :-)

So the solution I have discovered is truly simple: eat breakfast first.  Fill up at the very least with a slice of toast, or best of all, with a helping of porridge.  Then your body can get burning calories right away, and you warm up from the inside.  After that, a shower can be taken lukewarm, with no shivers.  True story! 

Besides, it is so much easier to get out of bed knowing that your first act is going to be drinking a nice cup of tea. 

Total Daily Expenditure: £8.11 
(weekly food shop)