I shower in the dark. And other winter tales.

Sometimes I shower in the dark.

With only one month remaining of winter, it is staying lighter here longer. But still the sun isn't up until after 7:30, and it sets by 6pm. So it's dark when I want to shower in the morning, and dark when I want to shower in the evening.

The master bathroom has an entire wall of windows.

It's beautiful during daylight hours when the room is full of natural light.

It's kind of creepy after dark when you are standing naked by that wall of windows and the light is pouring in the opposite direction. Ok sure the glass is wavy so people on the other side can't see any fine details. And yes, there is a tree whose branches cover the wall on the other side unless you are right under the window. But still. If you are on the sidewalk just below, and the lights are on in the bathroom, and there is a naked person standing there by that window taking a shower, then you will get to see some skin.

Tim and I have argued about the amount of skin visible in the dark from the other side of the wall of windows. Tim thinks there will be none. I think there will be at least a full body blob of pink nude. No I am not going to settle the argument by going outside to check out the view while Tim is showering. Ew.

So I shower in the dark.

There is enough light coming in from the outside to find the shampoo, if not to distinguish it from the conditioner (hint: the conditioner is on the right). And you have to close your eyes anyway when the soap is running into them. So since I'm already showering partially blind, why not just shower in the dark?

Sometimes I shower in the dark.

There is no heat in the bathroom.

We have one gas heater in the living room, and space heaters for the bedrooms for the nights when it is particularly cold. But there is no heater in the bathroom.

If you turn the water temperature up in the shower, you can stand there in the dark enjoying warmth pouring over you. But then you eventually have to turn the water off and get out of the shower and there is no heat and you are all wet and it is Cold!

In a perfect world, I would only shower in the winter on Sundays. On Sundays, I can sleep until the sun is up, then shower in a bathroom lit by natural light, heated by natural sun. No showering in the cold and the dark like I do the rest of the week.

But alas. The world is not perfect. The hair needs washing more than just on Sunday. The body needs cleaning. Hygiene is important. One learns this lesson quickly when one takes public transit.

But oh the bathroom is cold.

Hawaii

A family member pointed out the fact that I haven't written in a while.

It is true. I haven't written in a while. But I have good reasons for not writing.

First, we were going on holiday, and I was getting ready to go on holiday by doing things like ... not writing.

Then we were on holiday and I was not writing because I was on holiday.

And then we were back, and I was not writing because I was just back from holiday and I was in a post-holiday slump.

And then I decided that I liked being in a post-holiday slump and I'd extend it for a while.

Anyway, now that family members are asking what has happened, I guess I'd better start writing again.

We had a lovely holiday. Tim's parents and sister joined us on an island halfway between our house and theirs. In Hawaii. The weather was perfect. The activities were perfect. The people were perfect.

And I came home with a tan line. So perfect.

The one thing that wasn't perfect was the jellyfish that stung me. It was otherwise a lovely beach. And then I encountered just a little thread of tentacle across the front of my foot, that the wave then swept back to brush just slightly across the back of my calves. It totally would have been fine except those jellyfish stingers are filled with neurotoxin. The pain ran up my leg and numbed the whole thing to everything except pain. Pain. PAIN! Yikes!


And within 24 hours it was gone.

Until today.

I am having jellyfish ghost pains shoot through my lymph node in my leg.

Stupid jellyfish.