When the price of fuel, delivered, is $11/gallon, you wind up with some restrictions. Since every drop of water here is melted ice, ours include two minute showers, twice a week. Out in Summer Camp where most of us live, water is delivered by tractor from the Dome. We run out if we overdo our showers so there's real incentive to stick with the honor system. I've overhead people timing each other's showers by request so the showerer could calibrate her timing. It's pretty straightforward, really: you get wet, turn the water off, use the soap, turn the water on, etc. The bathroom building is warm enough so you don't freeze in between but there's no desire to linger. There's no enforcement but if you get a reputation for taking "Hollywood showers" it's hard to live down. It's a real delight to hit McMurdo at the end of the season where fresh water is produced relatively cheaply and in volume in an industrial osmosis plant. The feeling of delight with unrestricted hot showers is something that has stuck with me ever since my first season here.
Where am I going with this? Something about Thanksgiving I suppose. We're a day ahead of you all (well, most of you) but we're not celebrating until Saturday so we get our first two-day weekend. Tonight is the big Disco party. I will be thankful if everybody else chose to take a shower too.
Best,
-Sarah