Gelda Venn opens the bath rotation chart and the settling basin checks at the public warm-water hall in the Lower Ward. Before anyone moves a cart or changes a mark, the crew checks a chalk line on the basin wall showing the last safe draw before cleaning. The grain fall air brings its own pace to the passage.
The latest page holds 26 water rotations completed before the final bell. Gelda Venn reads the previous count (25) before the next mark is made. It is a small pause, long enough for the people at the rail to hear what the number leaves out.
A shortened schedule reduces wear on the basin; families who rely on the evening rotation say daytime hours are not an equal substitute. The current record does not settle that disagreement. The difference between those accounts is visible here: a rule on the board and a working condition just beyond it.
The affected crew has tried the revised procedure under ordinary working conditions. The entry belongs to the public comment file at the public warm-water hall in the Lower Ward. The next check will be made by another crew, asked to repeat the measure without borrowing the first crew’s conclusion.
When the shift closes, the file remains beside the marked place. The steward will post an evening rotation for residents who work the late shift. Until then, the route, schedule or allotment stays as it was at the opening bell.
