drip drip drip

I was at a friends for the weekend and noticed that he still takes very long showers. It begs the question, why do guys take very very long showers? Back when I was a teenager, long showers are the norm. But not when you are an adult and have a life to live. Think about water conservation much? I recently read a letter to an agony aunt's column a favourite national newspaper and it goes like this:

Why does my teenage son take such long showers? He is 14 and everyday he takes a 45 minute showers. He just started doing this recently. What is he doing in there? It should only take 10 minutes. I ask him what takes so long and he says 'I shaved!' or 'I just like standing in there cause im bored'. He better not be doing that naughty stuff. Not in my christian house. Next time I'm going to barge in there and embarass him. That's dirty. HELP

Concerned Mom.

The reply to the letter above reads:

Dear Concerned Mom,

He may just take a long shower because he can't be bothered rushing to get ready or just wants to be clean! He may be doing 'stuff ', but it is a thing that all people do, he is just getting used to being a teenager. Don't walk in and embarass him, he might even just take even longer showers just to annoy you. Plus he'll stop trusting you, or be angry at you for ages. Just remember to be understanding and not be a shower Gestapo.

Yours cleanly Agony Aunt

The vast majority of women (71%) apparently take showers of 10 minutes or less and a quarter of women (26%) manage to take showers of five minutes or less. This is only slightly below the number of men who do so (75% and 30% respectively). There are also intriguing differences on age, with time spent in the shower decreasing with increasing age. The 55s and over (mean shower time: 8 mins, 41 seconds) are five minutes faster than people aged 18 to 24 (mean shower time: 13 mins 26 seconds) with well over a third (39%) of people aged 55 or over even managing to shower in five minutes or less. Does this suggest a slap-dash approach to personal hygiene in the more mature, a no-nonsense efficient approach, or a deep seated eco-consciousness and concern about water conservation?