Lets talk about luxuries. We don’t realize how entitled we can be and so many things that we just take for granted really are luxuries if you expand your perspective enough. I’ve talked enough about crumbling infrastructure, so to make it quick, Scarlett’s home no longer has a direct connection to a constant natural gas source and they now get it from a bottle. There is not much room so it is like a bottle you’d have for your grill. This lasts them for a couple months but it is only used for cooking. I am not sure this is a direct cause but we do not have a hot water heater. The house is plumbed for hot water and they used to have it but obviously it wasn’t that big of a priority.

When asked about having hot water Scarlet’s response has been “Why would you want to take a hot shower?” After a few days in 90+ degree days with only 1 mini split A/C I have begun to see her point. It took me about 4 days to get used to it and now it just feels like jumping into Lake Michigan on a hot day. Most houses have water tanks on the roof to provide water pressure, and this neighborhood has a large communal water tank. To me the best time to shower is at 2 in the afternoon when the water has been heating in the sun and you’re all sweaty looking to cool down.

At this point what frustrates me more than the cold water is the hardness of the water. Liquid soap is another luxury reserved for those with super soft water. Its so difficult to get a lather going especially when your skin is covered in salt and suncreen. Bar soap works better because you don’t have a finite number of bubbles to spread around. These are really minor complaints but they’re things you just don’t think about at home when you twist the knob and hot, clean water comes out 30 seconds later.