The daily shower.
At this stage, early in proceedings, the daily shower is the most impacting element of being homeless. Running second is toileting but I have a unit in my van, never used, in case.
A few logistical hurdles have to be overcome in order to have a shower. Water has to be sought and kept. Keeping it is okay; I can get four showers out of the tank so long as I can fill it.
Next, water has to be heated. I’ve worked out the best method for a hot shower after much trial, error and cost.
To do that I have to get the gas bottle from the roof. This involves a conspicuous ladder act.
The jet burner is very noisy, and it gets red hot. That means firing it up in a place absent of children and dogs, and preferably anyone else. Finding a spot is the big challenge and biggest source of stress. And I can’t overdo a spot: two days in a row could attract attention even just in the getting there.
Timing matters, too. Give a spot a while, and it may empty, get there late, or wait too long, and people come so I have to go somewhere else.
Once I decide to go for it, the procedure is to whip out the ladder, extend it, retrieve the gas bottle from its holder in the roof carrier, manouvre the jet burner from underneath the bed at the rear, connect them up, and fill the first pot of water to heat.
I add the first pot to the bucket of cold water to tahe off the edge, and refill the pot and heat that. On usually the third pot I wait for steam and bubbles. That poured into the bucket is a very hot shower.
It sits aside while I connect the input and shower hose to the pump I installed a year or two ago. Then quickly change into swimmers, make sure the pump’s cabled switch is handy, and go for it.
Today the wind warning held valid but I realised if I waited there’d be a slight change of direction, allowing for a shower free of most of the wind’s impacting cold. Fabulous!
The thrill of a successful shower procedure adds to the joy of being cleansed all over, especially the eyes – which need the warm water to work for the day – all while outside and usually near or in nature.
Just sensational.
After the very flukey shower today I drove upstream to get away from the wet patch and the wide-eyed bloke who turned up post-procedure but clearly deducing what I’d done, and took these shots.
