HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Tizer]

Well done, Julie. My dad wouldn't admit his hearing was failing and he blamed the problem on everyone else. He turned up the volume on the TV and my mum had to put up with it blasting out, regardless of what was being screened. It was especially bad for her because she was finding it difficult to move about and couldn't escape the noise.

[Stanley]

I know that mine is not as good as it used to be. I'm not hampered in hearing the small warning signs that keep you safe, I'm still pretty good at that. It's listening to conversations that confuses me like the phone and broadcast sound. My changes to the sound on my computer have convinced me that a great part of my difficulty is the deteriorating quality of output especially on old equipment and on equipment that has been miniaturised too far. I'm thinking seriously about improvements to the TV. All advice welcome!

[Julie in Norfolk]

It took years of procrastination before I went for a free test at Specsavers. (Other opticians are available). What I had was a free hearing test to determine whether my hearing was dodgy, if it were so they would have sent me to the GP who would have sent me back for a free hearing aid. I don't know why I didn't go direct from my GP, I suspect it was the waiting time for an appointment that put me off.

My dad's life changed when he had his hearing aids fitted. Mum and I had to keep apologising to people who felt slighted by him, especially those who were not looking him in the eye when they spoke to him. He thought he would try NHS hearing aids to start off with, and if they were any good he would get some "private" ones, he stayed with the NHS ones as there was no need to change.

In short, if you are in doubt about your hearing, the easiest and cheapest route for improvement is to get your hearing tested and have hearing aids if prescribed.

BTW, my last post may have been ambiguous. I have a slight hearing loss, no hearing aid required. Steve however mumbles still, no artificial methods of improvement there.

[Wendyf]

Colin not only mumbles, he does it facing away from me...then gets annoyed if I don't hear him. My mother used to get irritated with Dad when he didn't catch what she said, I swear she used to repeat her words in a quieter voice.

[Stanley]

My mother did exactly the same Wendy...... I am convinced that even with good hearing, comprehension is far better when you can see a person's face. We all lip read subconsciously and that may be why listening to radio can be problematical.
Today's tip is directed at the old farts who use Zippo lighters. When lighting up becomes a problem it's the wick that is the problem. Pull all the cotton wool stuffing out drag the wick up until you have a clean un-charred section and repack. Works wonders! For years I thought it was the flint wheel getting worn but at long last I have realised that this is not the problem. I think I am a slow learner......

[Stanley]

I went mad yesterday and bought another 15tog double duvet and an extremely expensive pure cotton cover. I now have three duvets under me and one on top. If this seems excessive, don't knock it unless you have tried it. I learned about multiple duvets in California many years ago and if, like me, you enjoy a good snuggle, try it! Snug as a bug in a rug......

[Tizer]

Stanley often warns us to make sure we have some back up if there are power cuts. I'll suggest also that it's a good idea to make sure you have planned for what happens if the Internet and/or mobile phone communication goes down. I don't mean the odd blip that we already endure but the longer outages that are likely to occur if foreign government hackers get more serious about cyber warfare. For example, check that you have access to cash from a bank branch and don't rely solely on online banking. I'll be surprised if we don't begin to see such outages in the future.

[Stanley]

That's a good one Tiz and I took measures to guard against this when there was the trouble with the banks systems going down and people not being able to access their money. Even more serious is that I doubt if any of the supermarkets are prepared for when their systems go down and they can't process sales. We have seen this happen in Barlick with recent power outages. So, make sure you have a reserve of food in the house!

[Stanley]

My policy about insuring against a shortage of ready cash once again proved to be a life saver yesterday. I am not going to go into details but I was able to take a big problem in my stride. Very good for my self-esteem...... Forward planning with worst case in mind is always a good policy!

[Stanley]

I think the modifications to what I eat are working. I don't like the word 'diet' because it has connotations of weird ways to lose weight. My tip is avoid 90% of 'diets' like the plague! (Especially the modern trend towards 'super foods'......)

[Stanley]

Catering for guests is easy if one is on a special diet and brings their own soup and the other likes pork pies!

[Stanley]

The diabetes nurse commented the other day that pipe-smokers are very thin on the ground these days and I asked her if she had come across any who were in trouble because of the habit. (Actually I don't regard it as a 'habit', just a normal and enjoyable facet of my life) She thought a bit and said no. So my tip is that if you like smoking get a pipe and start smoking black tobacco..... far better for you that fags or cigars.....

[PanBiker]

It is a habit and it is bad for you. I can't believe you are advocating any form of smoking against all the evidence.

[LizG]

So my tip is that if you like smoking get a pipe and start smoking black tobacco..... far better for you that fags or cigars.....

No!!!!! Sorry Stanley but I have to disagree. Everything we know about the harmful effects of smoking tells us this is wrong.

[Stanley]

Have you ever seen any research on pipe smoking? All the present opinion is based on cigarettes and I agree with it. So today's tip is listen to your body and not public opinion which is based on something different.

[PanBiker]

Probably not a big enough user base to have as many statistics. At the end of the day it's tobacco and all the scientific evidence shows that you would be better off without it. I would think that the delivery method used to ingest the exhaust gasses in to your mouth, and respiratory system is pretty irrelevant.

[Big Kev]

The following is from the BBC website; Doctors from the American Cancer Society found that smoking a pipe increased the risk of six cancers, namely cancer of the colon, oesophagus, larynx, lung oropharynx and pancreas.

It also increased the risk of heart disease, stroke and chronic lung disease.

The doctors said that while smoking a pipe is not as dangerous as smoking cigarettes, it can still seriously damage health.

"All tobacco products cause excessive morbidity and mortality," they said.

"Comprehensively documenting the deleterious health effects of pipe smoking is important in countering efforts by the tobacco industry to promote pipes as a desirable alternative to cigarettes or cigars."

Professor Robert West of Cancer Research UK backed the findings.

"Pipe and cigar smoking has been found to be less harmful than cigarette smoking in some studies because many pipe and cigar smokers do not inhale the smoke into the lungs whereas almost all cigarette smokers do."

But he added: "All tobacco smoke contains carcinogens whether it is from pipes, cigars or cigarettes."

[Tizer]

Apparently pipe smoking is becoming more popular again with the younger generation who, ironically, see cigarettes as old-fashioned and cigars as being for old blokes. In the old days, free pipes were handed out to freshers at Ivy League universities in the US so we might see the tobacco companies doing that again! There's no doubt that taking smoke from combustion into your mouth and/or lungs is bad for health, there's more evidence accumulated for that than for practically anything else these days. How bad for your health depends on your genetic robustness, general health, diet and lifestyle. There is evidence that pipe smoking is strongly associated with cancer but I would expect it to be less so than cigarette smoking. Tar is at least partly condensed in the stem of the pipe rather then entering the mouth and lungs; the longer the stem the safer the pipe in that respect. A hookah would be preferable! Or a water pipe.

[Stanley]

Or a well maintained Falcon pipe with a condenser chamber..... You have no idea what a pleasure my pipe is to me and up to now I haven't detected any serious side effects. Perhaps I am more tolerant? I think of all the nasties I have inhaled during my life, asbestos, phosgene, chlorine, vaporised metals and diesel particulates to name just a few and can only assume that I am either very lucky or slightly peculiar! Then I look at my contemporaries who are either dead or in much worse nick that me and all I can say is that so far, things are quite satisfactory and I refuse to be spooked by health scares. Think of the number of people in trouble through alcohol, drugs and congenital disease. Look at the death of my daughter....
So today's tip is keep buggering on and be sensible about your life style. The best personal trainer is a dog!

[Tizer]

...and can only assume that I am either very lucky or slightly peculiar!...

Or have the combination of genes that puts you in the upper tail of the statistical distribution...but I suppose we call that luck. As we get older the balance between avoiding future disease and enjoying our remaining years shifts towards enjoyment. It's strange to think how when we're young we tend towards ignoring future health and taking risks with our health, yet that's the very time when we should be taking care of ourselves because it affects a large part of our lifespan.

[Stanley]

I think that by a combination of luck and good choices I have always looked after myself but one very powerful influence on my attitudes to health was strangely enough a fantasy novel. It was the story of a man called Thomas Covenanter who had Leprosy and as a consequence of the loss of feeling in areas of his body had to get into the habit of doing frequent audits during the day of himself to avoid small injuries which if not treated immediately could develop into serious lesions. At about the same time a very good friend of mine told me "The body never lies" and that stuck in my head as well. The consequence is that I occasionally do a body audit, checking so that I don't allow things to develop unnoticed. This can be as simple as occasionally stepping on to the scales in the bathroom or taking my blood pressure but also includes diet and personal safety. It might sound obsessive but it isn't, it's just the same as inspecting a piece of machinery and doing preventive maintenance. I'd recommend it to everyone.

[Big Kev]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, I enjoyed reading those. Stephen Donaldson was the author.

[Wendyf]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, I enjoyed reading those. Stephen Donaldson was the author.

It was compulsive reading, I remember being unable to put the books down. The next set of his books had the same effect, I can't remember what they were called but it involved mirrors!

[Stanley]

I feel a re-read coming on!
Have a look at THIS article on the ideal temperature of the water when brewing coffee. Just below boiling point. I let the kettle boil and then leave it for a minute or two before brewing. It really does make a difference if you are using good coffee.

[Stanley]

Brewing tea demands equal attention. My belief is that you have to have a rolling boil and get the teapot or mug as close to the kettle as possible. Then it is essential to give the tea time to brew, 3 minutes minimum. I can remember how disgusting tea was in the States where they brought you a cup of hottish water and a small tea bag on a string! Another disadvantage the Americans have is that because they work on 120 volt mains electricity electric kettles are unknown. Even clothes dryer have to have a gas supply for the heat.