Speaking for The Netherlands here, but I believe our situation is very similar to the UK in this regard. A lot of houses are equipped with a gas-powered tankless heater which supplies both central heating and hot water. These come in various sizes and output capacities, so you can install one which comfortably suits your needs. Using hot water for multiple things at once shouldn’t be an issue if you have the right heater installed.
I got my first phone in 2002. It was a Nokia 3510.
I got my first computer, or rather our first family computer, in the same year. All I remember specs-wise is that it was your typical beige Pentium 4 machine, 40GB HDD, massive 19" CRT monitor, running Windows XP.