Hot water. 1 euro please.

After spoiling ourselves with 1 night of luxury, we are ready to face the rest of our journey. Today it's very cold and the wind is incredibly fierce. I am again just about wearing everything I have on me and so does Gary. The walk itself has been boring to say the least. We seem to have entered into a vast landscape of grassland only and after a few days of this, I have just lost interest in my surroundings. Don't get me wrong, I am still very much enjoying the experiences along the way but a change of scenery would be more than welcome at the present time. We walk another 26 kms today and arrive in a very cold albergue. This albergue has no central heating. I am longing for our own private room. The hospitalero provides us with the only heater in the place and the warmest bedroom he's got. We shouldn't be cold tonight. The hospitalero explains to us the shower system. Apparently we need to place 1 euro in this box and than the water will remain hot for 10 minutes. He shows us where the shower is and the box. I am getting ready for the shower and place my 1 euro in the box and set of to the shower. I hear the water running and assume someone else is in the shower. Too bad. Anyway the hospitalero comes over to me and ask me if I placed 1 euro in the box and I reply I have. He gets all excited and tells me that my hot water is running away. I explain to him that someone else is in the shower and he goes to check and says no one is in there. Well apparently as soon as you put in your euro the water starts running for the 10 minutes. I think about this awhile as the box is nowhere near the shower. We are in a very public place and now I realise I need to be very fast indeed to enjoy what's left of my hot shower. Imagine, I need to pay in the box. I am wearing enough to be considered decent in a public place. Now I bolt to the shower, undress and wash my hair and body with whatever is left over. Isn't this just one of those moments you will never forget, just because it's so utterly ridiculous. Wouldn't it have been better to place the box inside the shower, so people could enjoy more of their hot water? Sometimes I wonder.