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The Bath House

Set back from the edge of the river just down from Kobolkin’s Bridge sat the Bath House. A popular venue with many of the villagers, Devor the owner and Lenara his wife, ensured that everything was clean and hygienic and kept it spotless. Large fluffy towels were stacked in tidy piles and bathrobes to match could be found hanging in neat rows. The Bath House grew thick and strong, the thicker walls keeping in the heat and steam, only two small windows were present and the doorway was at the top of a short flight of steps. Near the centre of the village sits a very neat and tidy shroom. The Shroom had grown a basement to accommodate the boilers which heated the water and, provided the steam. A warm red glow could always be seen through the basement window except on the sixth day, when the Bath House was closed, then a banging and clanking could be heard as pipes were repaired or the boiler was serviced by Devor and the baths and steam room were given a thorough clean. The river provided ample fresh water and this was pumped into huge cisterns within the shrooms cap via a complicated system of pipes and filters, one of which could be seen seemingly growing out of the side of the shroom. Another set of twisting pipes took the smoke from the boilers up to the chimney. Being close to the river and having such a damp interior the shroom had developed warty like growths over its cap and the whole cap had a lopsided look, as if it had melted in the steamy heat of its interior. Some of the pipes ran underground these were the ones that took away the waste water and this was used to irrigate the orchard which grew close to the Bath House, an arrangement which pleased the orchard owner no end.

Although many of the shrooms in the village had their own bathrooms, the Bath House was a popular meeting place especially for the men of the village. When their wives were engaged in feminine activities such as shopping, women’s meetings or had the village fair to organise, the men would take themselves off and gather at the Bath House. Fresh ice cold drinking water was provided, but generally the men would bring various cordials with them and other items which would amuse them whilst they soaked tired muscles, socialised with their friends or, on an odd occasion steamed off the excesses of the night before. There were separate baths and steam rooms, which were quite private as well as a large communal bath and steam room, the communal rooms were where the men gathered to enjoy their freedom and to speak of things which the women would just not understand. On those days and evenings when the men were in residence raucous laughter could be heard along with good natured shouts and much splashing.

The women in the village used the Bath House as well but not when there were men present. Lenara would be visited by one of the women and arrangements made for a ladies only evening. The ladies did not attend the Bath House during the day as they had far much work to do in and around their homes and could not waste time dallying in baths as the men did. The ladies were much more refined in their bathing habits than the men. Bringing flasks of hot tea and petit fours made to each woman’s special recipe, they gathered together wearing demure bathing suits to discuss the latest fashions, births, deaths and marriages and of course the latest gossip – not that anyone would call it that within their hearing, they were merely interested in the lives of their fellow villagers and offering their sage advice whether it was welcomed or not.

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