anita

Long story short, we found out in mid-January that the material between the tiling in the shower was acting not as a water-repellent, but rather as a sponge, in turn saturating the adjoined wall in shower-water. This wasn’t an immediate concern for us, but the downstairs neighbors didn’t take kindly to the falling paint and the ever-expanding water-stain growing larger and larger on their bedroom ceiling. This was especially so because they had just bought the apartment and furthermore they are expecting a baby in a few months and are hoping to have everything in order by the time the bambino comes along.

Because things in France take an exceedingly long time to get done or for that matter even started, we spent the following 6 weeks waiting for the plumber to come properly diagnose and start fixing the problem.  We continued to use the shower, craftily taping up an additional shower curtain to all sides of the shower-wall, along with leaving the door open to keep the humidity to a low, limiting shower-time, when possible, to five minutes.

Yesterday, finally, the plumbers who were to take the tiles off came and removed tiles from two of the three 2x6 foot walls, the third wall of tiles to be removed at some undetermined time in the future. They had cancelled the previous day and were unable to complete the job because they ran out of time. Based on their work-rate from day 1, I estimate they have about 20 more minutes of work remaining, in my opinion the least they could complete after all this waiting.  With a dehumidifier sitting atop broken and discarded tile on the shower floor, and the water-pipes disconnected, no stretch of the creative imagination can get around the fact that we can no longer, in any sort of way, use our shower for showering purposes.

Now this leaves us in a less-than-convenient situation.  Though Julien has few qualms about showering at work, and I can technically shower at my gym, I’m struggling with returning to those days at the dorm where taking a shower required special attire, namely in flip-flops and a towel, and jumping into a public/shared shower, cringing at the sight of whatever unseemly thing was left by the previous occupant. But even the dorm-showers were only about 30 steps from my room (we lived right next to the bathrooms), i.e. 30 steps to all the comforts of privacy, warmth, and my limited wardrobe. It’s about a 20-minute walk from the gym to the apartment, and though 40°F might seem like pretty mild winter temperatures, I don’t foresee enjoying the walk home post-shower, wet hair chilling in the breezes, and thinking about how little I actually like to shower.

This does have the possibility of being really positive, as a highly-motivated person who is really into showering everyday might see this as “If I’m going to shower every day, I’ll have to go to the gym everyday; and while I’m there, I might as well workout…” resulting in getting the most out of their gym membership and making it to the gym everyday. A less-motivated person who does not have the same ideals about showering every day, thinks about all this and comes to the conclusion that this is all a lot of hullabaloo just for a shower, and decides that 3 days isn’t so long to go without showering. I fear I’ll fall into the latter category, especially after a debilitating cold has left me house-bound for the last week.

Now as many of you know, this is not my first encounter with less-than-ideal showering situations. While I was living in Guatemala in 2006, we had an outdoor shower, and the water tank above the shower was heated by solar power meaning there were specific and limited peak times during the day when you could expect comfortable showering temperatures, neither freezing cold nor scalding hot. New Zealand adventurer Amelia and I discovered the full cleansing abilities of baby wipes and their miraculous ability to extend that time between showers. I look back not unfavorably to that experience, filing it under “adventures” in the annals of my memory. I’m trying to put a similar adventure-spin on this circumstance, but the interminably overcast weather has reflectably (is that a word?) clouded my mood and attitude.  I’ve become the pessimistic one, responding unfavorably to the plumber’s broad and ever-extending estimate of 3 weeks…3 months…up to a year? for the wall to properly dry before they can install new tiling; asking why…why have the landlords not taken a more active role in getting their apartment fixed and finding some sort of alternative for us?; and the one who sits writing about it all instead of working out and taking a well-deserved shower in those gym-showers.

In the meantime, in a move uncharacteristic for these winter months, I suppose I better dig out my flip-flops, pack my duffel bag, and head out on what has now become the one hour “adventure” to hit the showers.