We Forget The Near Past At Our Peril

In Britain, from Victorian times to the 1940's,
when vast numbers of people lived in cramped quarters
with inadequate electric light, water from a stand pipe
part way down the street and other inadequate amenities
the 'slipper bath' (above) was one way of keeping clean.
It was so called because of it's shape.

Many of these would be kept in a public room,
with a curtain around each of them for privacy.
The room would often be above a public swimming pool.
The public would pay for the tub to be filled part way
with clean water, and pay extra for hot, and for towels and soap
if they had not brought along their own to keep costs down,
 as well. As a single woman my mother attended these places, often.

That many millions of people once kept clean this way
has become soon forgotten, with the modern convenience
of hot water on tap, wall to wall carpeting, television,
and cosy central heating systems.

  But the past is never as far away as we think.