Q. Shower Time: My girlfriend and I recently moved in together and I discovered an odd quirk. Once or twice a week she'll retreat to the bathroom and take a "shower" for an hour or two. Like literally 120 minutes. Our place doesn't have nearly that much hot water and so I asked her how this works. It turns out that she goes in there, builds a little nest out of towels, turns the shower on, and just lies there and reads or naps with cold water running, and then takes a couple minute shower. Apparently she's done it since she was a child and just finds it relaxing. Prudie, do you know how much water this uses?! She'll use several hundred gallons of water per session! Thousands a month! When I talked to her about the waste she just said that this is how she likes to spend her money (she insisted on paying the water bill when we moved in together and now I know why) and that lots of human activities are wasteful, but that since she's not even in the shower for most of the time the water's not being polluted (not sure about that) and that she does give to a water-related charity. Should I chalk this up as a quirky indulgence and that there are worse things than the shower running for hours at a time?
A: One great pleasure of this column is that just when I think I've heard everything I realize, Oh no, I haven't. The cold-water-shower-reading-nest is a new one on me, and I've got goosebumps and pruney skin just thinking about it. It's too bad your girlfriend didn't grow up in a house that only had bathtubs. Then she just would have soaked in a cold tub and while all her books may have gotten soggy the water bill wouldn't rival that of the Hoover Dam. It's generally a good idea to indulge your loved one's harmless quirks. Also keep in mind that a lot of people have passionate hobbies: motorcycles, skiing, buying shoes—that are far more expensive than a weekly, private Niagara. For now I suggest that when your girlfriend says she's feeling particularly dirty and it's time for a long shower, you don't stay home steaming about the running water, but let off steam by going out for a long run.
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