HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Tripps]

Otherwise known as Montezuma's Revenge.

I guess that could be yet another version of the origin of the phrase 'the full monte'

[Stanley]

P is almost certainly right. I remember once having a fascinating conversation with John Wilfred Pickard about his time working part time in the VD clinic in Burnley. He was very definite about the reality of public cross contamination and cited handrails, door handles and most of all, coins and notes as possible vectors.
If you have something that is battery powered and you haven't used it for a while, it's not a bad plan to occasionally replace the battery with a new one. I had a thought about my old Nikkormat camera yesterday and opened it up. It was OK but I had a new spare battery so I replaced the old one.

[Tizer]

He was very definite about the reality of public cross contamination...

One of the contamination risks now is supermarket trolley handles. Another risk that will become more common is all the push buttons. Something that should reduce microbial risk is contactless payment, although it might have other risks!

[Stanley]

I asked him if there was any truth in the old canard about catching VD off a toilet seat. He said that it was remote but given the right circumstances it was certainly possible.



I loved listening to John Wilfred. He was a mine of information on medical matters and one of the best sort of English Eccentric. Today's tip is if you find someone like this, spend time listening to what they have to say. Best use of time there is!

[plaques]

The pin ups in the photo are quite modest by today's standards but how many can you name?

[Marilyn]

I cannot imagine ANY circumstances when VD could be contracted from a toilet seat!
One would have to believe it was also possible to get pregnant from a toilet seat!

Get real...
Don't forget that old fellow trained in a time when the medical profession truly believed VD could not be transmitted via male to male sex, only male to female sex. In the 40's/50's and even early 60's they still believed it. It was total twaddle of course.

[Marilyn]

perhaps he thought he heard you say ON a toilet seat, not FROM a toilet seat?

[Stanley]

If you sat on a toilet seat vacated by someone with syphilis who had left blood or other infective material on the seat and it coincided with a cut in your skin it is certainly possible. Unlikely but not impossible. John was not a dinosaur, he kept up with the latest developments right up to his death. In the early days of antibiotics almost sixty years ago he refused to prescribe them for viral infections. During a flu outbreak he went into his crowded waiting room and asked those with flu symptoms to identify themselves, almost all of them. He told them that he would see the others but he had flu himself and was going to go home, take aspirin and plenty of fluids and go to bed until he was better. He advised them to do the same.
P the pics on the wall were the ones off the Shiloh Spinners calendars for previous years. All professional models.

[Stanley]

Later in my career I got to know Edmund Gartside, the chairman of Shiloh spinners and he told me that one of the more interesting board meetings was the one where the representative of the firm that printed their calendars brought a selection of candidates pictures for the board to decide.
Looking at the current events I am reminded of the war slogan (that was never actually used), "Keep calm and carry on". Good advice......

[plaques]

It was just that I seemed to recognize some of the pictures. I've looked to see if any of the back issues are available on the net but so far its a big NO.

[Cathy]

From one of our Home-style tv shows. They took an everyday kitchen wooden chopping board to a hospitals pathology department and had it tested/swabbed for germs. (A lot of E. coli was found), and the following advice was given.
Wooden Chopping Boards - place in water to cover for 5 mins, bring out and cover both sides with salt. Leave for 5 mins. Rinse. Air dry.
Plastic Chopping Boards - place in water for 5 mins, bring out, spread bleach over both sides (use a paint scraper to remove any stuck food), leave for 5 mins. Rinse. Air dry.

[Marilyn]

I cannot abide cafes/pubs/eateries that think it is "hip" to serve food to their customers on bread boards.
I refuse to eat of the filthy things. You can't tell me they clean them properly.

[Stanley]

The chopping boards should be made of Sycamore as it is the best wood for resisting taking up taints from what was on it (This also works for wooden salad bowls). I learned this in the cheese stores at the dairies, they always use planed Sycamore boarding. There was a survey done of chopping boards.... A properly maintained wooden one was found to be cleaner than a plastic one in normal use. I simply scrub mine but once a week I soak it in boiling water and bleach and it comes out snow white. The worst ones for contamination were found to be the modern ones impregnated with a germicide during manufacture. Butcher's wooden chopping blocks were always accepted by the Hygiene Inspectors as long as they were scrubbed with a cleanser, hot water and a wire brush each day.I once did a job for a contractor who processed operation theatre dressings for Johnson and Johnson and all their worktops were black plastic. Johnson's insisted on that colour because they said it was a deterrent for bacteria.

[Tizer]

Wood contains a lot of natural phenolic compounds which inhibit bacterial growth - part of the tree's own self-defence system. The characteristic smell of oak (and of red wine aged in oak barrels) is due to vanillin which is a phenolic chemical.

[Marilyn]

You are all free to take your own risks.
I will not eat food from a breadboard. I have seen people eat blood laden and garlic laden steaks from them, and my innards say they are to be avoided in the mass dining arena. I shall have a plate, Thankyou.
Don't get me started on coffee cups. I've had coffee served to me in cups that smell of the last customer's perfume. ( like I want her cold sores or gastro bug?)

[Stanley]

I wash my pint pot in boiling water and bleach every day and at the same time treat the sink, tap nozzle and handle, overflow pipe, washing up brush and scotch pad at the same time. My U=bend is clean enough to drink out of. Oh, and I never use my wiping down cloth for more than a day, often much less. No risks there......

[Stanley]

I have just heard a piece on World Service about young children being asked about the origins of food. Their replies are interesting..... some said cheese was made from plants and fish fingers from chicken. So today's tip is to make sure that kids know where their food actually comes from.

[Stanley]

There is a school of thought which says you can learn a lot about someone by looking at their bookshelves..... I think there might be something in it.
It reminds me that I once met a very well qualified professional woman who was about 40 years old,single and very attractive. I never knew why but my first reaction to her was to feel very sorry for her. She had no pictures on her walls and the only books in the house were a Bible and her old school books. I remember that the thing that really lit her up was if I went to the supermarket and pushed her trolley for her. She fell out of my life and I often wonder what had damaged her because I am certain there was something. Or was I just making a comparison with my life?
So today's tip is to give some thought to other people's lives, they are all fascinating!

[Cathy]

Having gone through a thing or two in my life I often look at others and wonder what they may have been through, after all you mostly only know what 'chapter' they are living at the moment. I also look at new parents and wonder where /how the family will be in 5yrs time.
But don't dwell on these things for too long.

[Stanley]

I've always been good at looking ahead. One of my favourite questions is where do I want to be in five years. You have to keep the faith, be optimistic and assume you can survive that long! Mind you, events like Janet dying make you wonder a bit... That one came out of left field!

[Stanley]

Thinking about Cathy's post.... We've all been in situations that we never expected and we only have two choices, give in or fight! My version is that you have to battle through the bad phases in the hope that what's on the other side is better. It always is, nothing bad lasts for ever. So today's tip is keep faith in the future. Mind you, some things never leave you... they pop up occasionally and remind you that they are permanent.

[Stanley]

If you are painting something that can be moved, do it outside as the constant air circulation dries the paint much faster.

[Marilyn]

I have to admit, I went through periods of time when I wondered what happiness meant - not for myself, but for other people around me. I think I've always been satisfied with the basics ( enough food, enough warmth, enough money to pay the bills. Beyond having enough, I don't have any real needs, even today). I would walk my baby son for hours on end in his stroller, wondering if the people in the houses we walked past were happy. I always wondered why I wasn't happy.
In the end, I think it comes down to feeling loved.
If you don't feel loved, the rest is just "stuff" ( which you can live without).

Yeah...love is all you need really. Who gives a crap about the rest?

And, can I add that ( to me) happiness means knowing "where you came from" and not necessarily "where you think you are going to".
And don't judge a book by it's cover either...

[Stanley]

I agree totally with all of that Maz. I'd like to think it's a mature way of looking at life.

[Tizer]

In the distant past when Mrs Tiz and me had a less secure life and didn't know where we'd be in the future we told ourselves that if ever it came to the crunch and we had no jobs and lost our house we'd up sticks, move to the far south of Italy, live in a little village and make our way by doing whatever jobs we could locally. If it had happened we'd have been happy enough with the sun, warmth, good food and wine and village people around us! (And unlike now we wouldn't have been faced with the prospect of falling out of the EU.)