13:47 Dec 15, 2011 

This question has brought back the memory of the shared bathroom in the bed-sit I rented as a student in London in the 70s. The tub was placed against an exterior wall and the hot water heater was coin operated. It ate shillings at an alarming rate and the water chilled immediately. I have been a devoted fan of hot showers (an private bathrooms) ever since!

13:40 Dec 15, 2011 

In the UK, sharing a bath to save water was recommended during the 1976 drought (not so many people showered in those days), and some people thought it was good fun. But it did raise the problem Jenni has outlined: one of the two participants had an uncomfortable time resting his or her back against the taps.

One of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories, "Rumpole and the Tap End", is about this. A husband accused of trying to drown his wife in the bath reveals that when they bathed together he sat at the "tap end":
'She makes you sit at the tap end, Tony?' I began to feel for the fellow.
'Oh, I never made no objection,' my client assured me. 'Although you can get your back a bit scalded. And those old taps does dig into you sometimes.'
The judge is appalled at this and regards being made to sit at the "tap end" as mitigating circumstances, causing a storm of protest from feminist groups.