Crossing a line

This morning I had an astonishing conversation with a friend whose (30-something) daughter is staying with them for a couple of weeks. 

She (the daughter) demands - and is given - a clean bath, hand and face towel twice a day. She refuses to use a used towel. And she has two showers a day. When I asked how a clean body dried with a towel, can possibly make that towel dirty, I was met with a shrug. Apparently this is 'normal' amongst her peers. 

And to cap the clean towel surprise, my friend further told me that the towels "have to be tumble-dried after washing, because otherwise they're not fluffy enough".

It is disappointing that my friend and her husband comply with such demands. To be fair, they do so reluctantly, but I'm not sure why. They themselves each use one bath towel a week. 

My bath towel lasts two weeks, being dried on the line outside between uses. Except on days like today, when the rain is unremitting, and my towel is drying on the ceiling-line in the kitchen.

I have not come across such flagrant first world privilege so close to home for a while. It is no wonder we are going down the gurgler. 

Not only does such profligate use of chemical cleaners, water, electricity and fabric add to our overuse of the Earth's finite resources; but take one look at the telly any evening and see the deprivation suffered by a high proportion of the human population, who have no access to water to drink, let alone with which to clean their bodies. 

Towels (even dirty ones) in Gaza? Probably not many.

All this has absolutely nothing to do with today's photos, which are of the very "Scottish" weather which has been hanging over North Otago (and over Oamaru Harbour which features in the pictures) all day. The photos are exactly as they came out of the camera. Gloomy. Bean was a reluctant walker.

30mm+ of rain has fallen. Rivers have burst their banks. Paddocks are flooded, as are some roads. 

I splashed my way around town this morning in my first world privilege Red Band gumboots and old Kaiwaka coat, feeling every bit of the country girl that I am. And yes, as is expected hereabouts, I removed the gummies at the entrances to the library and the supermarket. 

There was quite a pile at each door and I was relieved to find mine hadn't gone off on somebody else's feet while I was doing my messages.


Where do we draw the line between what we consider necessary (gum boots and waterproof coats) and what we consider flippantly excessive (daily-washed towels)?