Rub-a-dub-dub, two people in a tub

It's that time again. The UK Census will be taking place again this year. This time, in addition to asking about sexual orientation and lifestyle choices, they'll be trying to paint a picture of how we live. Given that I work in research, you can imagine the geeky thrills I got when the boyfriend read this out of the Sunday paper to me yesterday. However, I'll be interested to see how this reflects the way in which living spaces have changed. In 1951, almost two-fifths of UK homes were without a bath and now, although the vast majority of all homes have some washing apparatus, for the very first time, more homes have showers than bathtubs. This is partly to do with the intense density of population in our main cities but also because consumers are more conscious of the amount of water they use. Personally I think that a bath is an absolute luxury. Reading in the tub with a glass of wine to hand is one of the most self-indulgent things that you can waste half an hour on. And upon visiting the lovely home of one of my friends on Saturday night and oogling her double bath, I was struck by how much more fun you could have were you to share the tub with someone else! I particularly like old claw-footed tubs or the spa baths set into the floor of a bathroom. I predict that whilst overall, showers will continue to overtake baths in the popularity stakes, double baths will become more popular than singles as the bath fades from being used every day to just being a luxury item. You heard it here first. Photos via Arhdeco.