To a rather posh spa with Cath this morning. It featured a number of different pools each filled with hot spring water rich in minerals – think the Dead Sea, only in miniature and indoors. One spends around fifteen minutes in each, the aim being that one’s skin is perfectly cleansed by the end of a couple of hours.

The brochure failed to mention that the origins of the pool ceremony are rooted deep in history. See, it’s an ancient Greek ritual. When a girl was to be punished before the gods, it was important to purify her first. The high priests would therefore take her to the holy pools and make her bathe, to cleanse her. Only then would they take her into the temple, tie her up before the altar and whip her.

You’ll be pleased to know that I did uphold the old traditions, even if the spa staff seemed quite ignorant of them. I’m not sure that they had acrylic canes in the days of the ancient Greeks; a hotel room had to do for the temple, and the fax machine’s cable replaced the more traditional rope to hold her in place, but it worked pretty well ;-)