There are few better places to contemplate and consider the larger questions and ideas than in showers in accessible bathrooms.
One of the few places where people can slow down during the incredible rush of our lives, showers and baths are a great place to slow down and relax, even if only for a few minutes.
Whilst you are in a contemplative mood, here are some fascinating facts and rather unique stories about showers you may not know.
A Shower Was Taken In Outer Space
In 1973, the Skylab project was launched, which was an early space station that housed three astronauts and was a converted rocket booster from a Saturn V rocket. Because of this, it was actually big enough to house a specially designed shower in zero gravity.
Because there is almost no gravity in space, the 2.8 litres of water used each time had to be vacuumed up after every use.
A Proposed Shower Snookers Liverpool Home
Many people want a second bathroom, and a common reason to build an extension is to fit a downstairs shower, either for comfort and mobility reasons or to avoid the inevitable bathroom traffic jam on a work morning.
However, whilst there are many reasons to have another shower, playing snooker isn’t one of them according to a ruling by Sefton Council’s planning department.
A long-running planning dispute in Aintree stemmed from a couple’s attempt to small detached snooker room in the garden of their home, which had shower facilities set up for a sport that is not exactly designed to get a player’s heart rate up.
The planners and neighbouring residents were somewhat suspicious of the plans, given that in 2020 the same couple had planned to build a two-bedroom house on the same grounds, only to have it rejected.
Ultimately, the planners rejected the proposal, arguing that snooker is ‘unlikely’ to be a sport that requires a shower afterwards, and that whilst the property in question had an old right to build a games room, that could not also cover normal uses of the property.
Hundreds Of People Have Showered Together
Most showers are quite individual, which is part of the reason why they are so relaxing. This was probably not the case for the 396 people who took a shower together at the Firefly Music Festival in June 2018.
A publicity stunt for the American toiletries brand Irish Spring, it shattered the previous record set in June 2015 and had the participants enjoying at least five minutes under a custom shower set up just for the challenge.
The Two Week Shower
One of the biggest debates in the shower world is how long the ideal shower is, with some people loving to spend a lot of time feeling the water over them whilst others have a much quicker scrub.
The average time for a shower is eight minutes but the longest shower on record was considerably longer than this, taking just over two weeks in total.
Kevin “Catfish” McCarthy spent an incredible 340 hours, 40 minutes soaking in 1985, and since Guinness World Records has since removed the category, is unlikely to ever be beaten.