Effin Softy Act

[Tim Streater]

True, and that's what we do but not everything goes in the DW.

Also true; so a good thing to let children play outside in a certain amount of muck.

[Tim Streater]

This does seem to be a female thing, near as I can tell although I only have low statistics.

[Owain]

I can remember my mother crocheting them. And kettle-holders.

After my father died she was allowed to have a dish-brush and an electric kettle.

Owain

[dennis]

Its not a problem, it just makes your immune system better and stops you getting arthritis later when the immune system is bored and attacks healthy cells. Unless there is a real risk, washing is not actually such a good idea.

[JTM]

R I P, sadly missed . . .

Some good ones.

John

[Man at B&Q]

Very well put.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

[e-mail]...

That's fine for you. What about third parties who don't have such a robust immune system?

MBQ

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You've not seen some of the locations I've filmed in.

[Andy Dingley]

Tell him to jump at the chance. A food hygiene certificate is a damned useful piece of paper these days and well worth acquiring. It comes in handy for people who want to run all sorts of voluntary stuff involving catering.

Some years back, when such stuff was first coming in, I was on the management committee of a local homeless shelter (yes, really). This was run day-to-day by a couple of paid staff, a couple of paid casuals overnight (often the same people) and lots of volunteers. It involved cooking too - often in a sort of "Extreme Ready Steady Cook" fashion, where you had zero notice of what free ingredients would have been scrounged up that day, and what you were going to do with them (in extremis, _anything_ can be curried).

It was _very_ useful to have such certificates. Many people (which mostly meant the young students) were well-meaning, but not a bloody clue when it came to basic food handling. If someone said "I cooked all the way through the War and my Woolton Pie cooked in the bottom of an Anderson shelter never hurt anyone" they were probably right, but for every one like that who knew what they were doing, you had a dozen who didn't. Management of many groups, especially when you're working with transient volunteers, has to be able to cope with the average person, who is necessarily average.

A friend of mine wrangles the paperwork for local env health issues, and yes, horror stories abound. Even someone who runs a restaurant doesn't necessarily have a clue how to do it.

[dennis]

If it isn't robust its because it was mistreated earlier or a genetic defect.

[Tim Streater]

Why would that be?

[robgraham]

[e-mail]...

That's rubbish, and with all due respect Dennis, the sort of comment that this group have come to expect from you. You should really think about what you are writing.

Let me explain why I'm saying that from a very recent experience. I went the other day to advise a friend on the wiring in an elderly property he is refurbishing. We had to go into the attic on a ladder and we also had to go down into the 5 ft high cavity under the house (water lying on the concrete!) - again on a ladder. We went for a cup o' tea and a biccy afterwards and 4 hours later I had a nasty stomach upset - I forgot to wash my hands which hadn't collected any visible dirt; stupid bugger me.

OK the upset was brief, but totally avoidable. Won't do that again. Hand washing is essential and the lack of it is the normal cause of all intestinal upsets.

Rob

[ARWadsworth]

A bit of a paradox really.

If dennis apologised for every stupid remark that he had made he would not have time to write the stupid remarks in the first place.

[dennis]

I do, its others that don't, see below.

Well your immune system now knows that bug and you probably wont be affected by it again. And you are just assuming it was because you didn't wash your hands. It could have been from somewhere else and already be in the food for instance. Its unlikely to be an infection if it went quickly.

But not always by the eater.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim Streater saying something like:

Who else ate coal?

[robgraham]

Ok Dennis - if it was not 'an infection' what was it ? Surely any upset to the body's balance is an infection? Yes it was brief for me, but if my analysis of the likely source is correct, then it could have been worse.

I gave the story as a warning as I regularly come in from my own workshop or garden and it's been a habit that if I feel my hands aren't dirty, then tea and biscuits are taken as they come. Rob

[Owain]

But the germs might have come from the cuppa, not your hands.

Owain

[Hugh - Was Invisible]

Perhaps someone hadn't been trained on washing up !!

[dennis]

Quite a lot of problems are caused by the toxins the bacteria produce. These remain after the food is cooked and the bacteria is dead. Botulism frequently kills this way.

[jgharston]

I've come to the conclusion that as well as the remedial maths and english lessons universies now have, they should also teach basic housekeeping: how to cook, what a washing machine is, which end of a vaccuum cleaner is which, etc.

How on earth can somebody be alive for 18 years without ever picking up any ability to keep themselves alive?

JGH