26/08/2026
,The Steam Room Incident I cannot shake off a situation that happened to me today. A bit of backstory. My day started teaching Reformer Pilates, after which I had planned to go to the gym. Except I am EXHAUSTED. I’ve been exhausted for days. My sleep is crap, my workouts are not meeting my own ridiculous standards, although thankfully my mood is actually fine. So I thought: You know what, Mary? You need a break. My original plan was the gym, but suddenly I thought, F**k the gym. Go and have a sauna and steam. There was just one tiny problem. I had not brought my swimming costume. Or, more importantly, my flip-flops. And because I am slightly OCD about communal floors, I genuinely thought I might go fully naked rather than put my bare feet on the floor. Anyway, I decided to get a coffee and have a wander. I ended up in Penneys. Eight euro later, I was the proud owner of the cutest swimming costume and a pair of sliders. Yes, I know. Fast fashion is wrong. But at that particular moment, I was willing to sacrifice the planet for 30 minutes of relaxation and hygienic footwear.My costume is white with little red chillies on it. Because obviously… I’m spicy like that. 🌶️ I head into the steam room. There is a man sitting there breathing like he is experiencing his final moments on Earth. What exactly is the benefit of this? Are you detoxing or dying? Then another man comes in. He is taking up space like some men do where they apparently require the square footage of a small apartment. And then.. He starts coughing. A proper “I have arrived carrying a respiratory infection” kind of cough. No covering his mouth.
I am sitting there in my £8 spicy chilli costume, already hanging on by a thread, thinking: Absolutely fu***ng not. So, trying to be polite, I say: “Would you mind not doing that, please?” Silence.he says: “Do what?” And this is where I think I may have lost the moral high ground I replied: “Not coughing in the fu***ng sauna.”He left. Immediately. I'm conflicted, was the "fu***ng" necessary? But how is this behaviour appropriate? Im still thinking about it, questioning my personality not his behaviour. Your feedback is required 🙏🏽🙈🤣
