Mo is into rank today…
I must admit that the hosts of yesterday’s birthday party may have had a rather rank smell about them. Since every drop of hot water had been used for the pigs, we were left with what we call a “French shower” ( washcloth, deodorant & perfume) to make ourselves presentable for the party…
Which is why today’s MM word made me think of Versailles, the palace French King Louis XIV’s built outside Paris.
In the days of Louis XIV, the courtesans had no comforts within the palace, which meant they had to relieve themselves in more or less discreet nooks and crannies, leaving it to the valets to clean up the mess. (Crinoline dresses were immensely practical in that context…) Water and baths were considered dangerous and the spreader of illnesses, so the obviously rank body odors were concealed with herbs and scented oils (perfumes) and powders.
One can only imagine the stench in those beautiful rooms - rank probably doesn’t begin to describe it.
The king had a bathroom installed, eventually, and in Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette’s day, there were several bathrooms in the palace.
Still, they never washed their hair, and often had it combed and brushed for hours on end to degrease it… Thus the popularity of (and necessity for) those spectacular powdered wigs.
I live amongst pigs, sheep, cats, dogs & brats in nappies, but I don’t think anything I’ve smelled in my life would have prepared me for the rank stench of pre-plumbing Versailles…
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