[Unregistered User 8]

as the number of people losing their minds over covid-19 are displaying some very un-Australian qualities

And only a few short weeks ago during the fires and floods, we as a population couldn't have been more united. Fear breeds selfishness.

[Unregistered User 8]

A friend of mine back in Spain is trying to get the other "youngsters" in his (rural) area to organize and run errands and grocery shopping so the elderly don't have to expose themselves. Other such initiatives are taking place elsewhere.

This is good community spirit, as long as they can keep safe themselves while running the errands.

[Serkevan]

There is a big difference between maintenance of chronic bunker paranoia and the ridiculous widespread panic buying we are currently seeing.

Yeah, it's crazy. Here people are not even buying soap, it's the alcohol gels/wipes that disappear. Toilet paper is still around somehow

[Sandy Hancock]

Yeah, it's crazy. Here people are not even buying soap, it's the alcohol gels/wipes that disappear. Toilet paper is still around somehow

The crazy thing is that soap is more effective.

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Last edited by Parallax; 03-16-2020 at 05:04 AM.

[Rondec]

@jcdoss
So you quote a web page from 2014 that is no longer updated?

---------- Post added 03-15-20 at 08:44 PM ----------


Are you implying having sex in groups where the count is less than 50?

That is not what I had in mind when talking about "personal relations" for the people who are having to telecommute.

Sorry. It was meant to be a bit of humor. Nothing more.

[Serkevan]

The crazy thing is that soap is more effective.

It's also faster and better for your skin! I don't know where the obsession with alcohol and "disinfecting" products comes from - I wager marketing really made such products look like "the" option. I get wanting a package or two of alcohol wipes to clean, say, your phone (which is a potential source for contagion) or other constantly-touched electronics, but this is insane.

[BigMackCam]

It's also faster and better for your skin! I don't know where the obsession with alcohol and "disinfecting" products comes from - I wager marketing really made such products look like "the" option. I get wanting a package or two of alcohol wipes to clean, say, your phone (which is a potential source for contagion) or other constantly-touched electronics, but this is insane.

Strong alcohol hand gel is, IMHO, handy for when you're out and about. I carry one in the car, and now wipes for the steering wheel, gear-stick, hand-brake, console controls, and door handles. I also keep one in my jacket pocket, and my Mum and Dad keep one each with them too. It's way better than nothing at all. But at home, we're using regular soap and hot water... and, as I said, individual towels for each of the family. Plus we're wiping surfaces and door handles with Dettol spray and wipes, so far as possible. PC keyboards, mice and cell-phones are being cleaned with alcohol wipes...

[Serkevan]

Strong alcohol hand gel is, IMHO, handy for when you're out and about. I carry one in the car, and now wipes for the steering wheel, gear-stick, hand-brake, console controls, and door handles. I also keep one in my jacket pocket, and my Mum and Dad keep one each with them too. It's way better than nothing at all. But at home, we're using regular soap and hot water... and, as I said, individual towels for each of the family. Plus we're wiping surfaces and door handles with Dettol spray and wipes, so far as possible. PC keyboards, mice and cell-phones are being cleaned with alcohol wipes...

It is, for sure - it's just weird that soap in supermarkets looks completely unbought (the aisles are full here, so are paper tissues) while alcohol spray/wipes are sold out all the time for the last week and a half

I'm now in the process of checking the lab's chemical register to get my hands on some glycerin... gotta turn that 70% alcohol mix into a gel and bring it home

[WorksAsIntended]

It is, for sure - it's just weird that soap in supermarkets looks completely unbought (the aisles are full here, so are paper tissues) while alcohol spray/wipes are sold out all the time for the last week and a half

I'm now in the process of checking the lab's chemical register to get my hands on some glycerin... gotta turn that 70% alcohol mix into a gel and bring it home

I went shopping on Saturday and the soap was much less than usual. I did not get my preferred brand, but still no problem to get some. Unlike toilet paper, but worst cases (got some left for 10 days or something) will be solved by showers and such, no issue at home.
I think soap is also bought very much, but as it is commonly bought very often the supply chain does not get overloaded. Just a guess though, I don't have any data despite my own shopping tours.

[mkgd1]

Strong alcohol hand gel is, IMHO, handy for when you're out and about. I carry one in the car, and now wipes for the steering wheel, gear-stick, hand-brake, console controls, and door handles. I also keep one in my jacket pocket, and my Mum and Dad keep one each with them too. It's way better than nothing at all. But at home, we're using regular soap and hot water... and, as I said, individual towels for each of the family. Plus we're wiping surfaces and door handles with Dettol spray and wipes, so far as possible. PC keyboards, mice and cell-phones are being cleaned with alcohol wipes...

After 35 years in the USA, one of the few habits left over from my other half of life in Yorkshire is Dettol. It's only available here on line, shipped from UK. We use it to wash the tiled floor to keep up with three big dogs. Otherwise I still like baked beans or tomatoes for breakfast and English beer.

[Digitalis]

it's just weird that soap in supermarkets looks completely unbought

I've noticed that too, I suppose some people really aren't committed to proper hygiene and and are taking the "easy" way out. the problem with the "easy" way is that everyone pays for it later as hand sanitizer is pretty ineffectual at inactivating the virus.

[BigMackCam]

After 35 years in the USA, one of the few habits left over from my other half of life in Yorkshire is Dettol. It's only available here on line, shipped from UK. We use it to wash the tiled floor to keep up with three big dogs. Otherwise I still like baked beans or tomatoes for breakfast and English beer.

My Dad's side of the family were from Wakefield and Batley (he was born in Dewsbury), and my Mum's from Sunderland. Dettol was a big thing with them, and for me growing up. As a child, I only had one bath a week - which was quite typical back then Invariably, it had a couple of cap-fulls of Dettol in it. Plus, whenever I got a scrape, deep scratch or cut (which was frequently, as I was an adventurous lad ), my Mum would always clean it with Dettol. Good stuff

As for beans, tomatoes and English beer, "yes" to all three, please

[MarkJerling]

My Dad's side of the family were from Wakefield and Batley (he was born in Dewsbur), and my Mum's from Sunderland. Dettol was a big thing with them, and for me growing up. As a child, I only had one bath a week - which was quite typical back then Invariably, it had a couple of cap-fulls of Dettol in it. Plus, whenever I got a scrape, deep scratch or cut (which was frequently, as I was an adventurous lad ), my Mum would always clean it with Dettol. Good stuff

As for beans, tomatoes and English beer, "yes" to all three, please

Dettol is still in regular use in our household. But, I'll add that this bathing once a week business must be an British thing as we bathed or showered every day growing up, and now. We have, strangely, met British people here in NZ who prescribe to the "once a week" bath for the kids, which we find bizarre. It's not like we have a water or soap shortage.

[BigMackCam]

Dettol is still in regular use in our household. But, I'll add that this bathing once a week business must be an British thing as we bathed or showered every day growing up, and now. We have, strangely, met British people here in NZ who prescribe to the "once a week" bath for the kids, which we find bizarre. It's not like we have a water or soap shortage.

Nowadays, my personal opinion is once-per-week bathing is antiquated and not very hygienic. Back when I was a kid, though, the practice was common and had its roots in the housing conditions and economics of the not-so-distant past.

Much pre-war housing in the UK had no means of heating water en masse... it had to be boiled on the stove, which required fuel, which cost money. Up here in the North East - and in much of England, frankly - that was hard to come by. So, once a week, multiple kettles of water would be heated on the stove and poured into a big tin bath. The kids would then be bathed... followed by the matriarch, and any elderly family members in the household, and lastly the patriarch who would probably still be filthy from his day working in the coal mines or in heavy industry. This was certainly the case in my Mum's family, and to a lesser extent in parts of my Dad's family too. The same thing applied to laundry days... they were once a week because a large quantity of water had to be heated up for washing and then rinsing. Since many families didn't own enough clothes, they'd wear the same shirts and tops two, three or more days in a row.

When I was a kid, it was purely an economical thing. Our heating was either by coal or coke fire. We had an electric boiler for hot water, but running it cost money, so you only boiled what you needed. To keep the electricity bills down, that meant a weekly bath... and though we weren't a poor family, we weren't well off either, so I didn't have lots of school clothes. I seem to recall I had three school shirts, and I used to wear the same shirt on two consecutive days - and would be lightly scolded if I got it dirty Come to think of it, I wore the same underwear and socks a couple of days in a row, too...

I had an interesting conversation with my Mum earlier today about the current toilet roll shortage during this coronavirus pandemic. She was telling me that in the immediate post-war years, and for some considerable time, her family never had toilet paper. They, like everyone else in their neighbourhood, tore up squares of old newspapers and hung them in the netty (the outside toilet at the end of the garden). Imagine the kids of today having to wipe their bums on yesterday's Daily Mail... although I tend to think that's a pretty fit use for it

We have it better now, thankfully... but for some, I guess, old habits (and the habits of our parents) die hard. Not me, though. I shower thoroughly every morning, and if I do anything strenuous and break a sweat, I might occasionally have another shower or a bath in the evening. I wear a fresh shirt or top most days. I certainly wear fresh smalls and socks each day. Same with my Mum and Dad. These seem like basic necessities, but when you think of it, we (and most others in economically developed countries) are incredibly fortunate...

[Flanoman]

Nowadays, my personal opinion is once-per-week bathing is antiquated and not very hygienic. Back when I was a kid, though, the practice was common and had its roots in the housing conditions and economics of the not-so-distant past.

Much pre-war housing in the UK had no means of heating water en masse... it had to be boiled on the stove, which required fuel, which cost money. Up here in the North East - and in much of England, frankly - that was hard to come by. So, once a week, multiple kettles of water would be heated on the stove and poured into a big tin bath. The kids would then be bathed... followed by the matriarch, and any elderly family members in the household, and lastly the patriarch who would probably still be filthy from his day working in the coal mines or in heavy industry. This was certainly the case in my Mum's family, and to a lesser extent in parts of my Dad's family to. The same thing applied to laundry days... they were once a week because a large quantity of water had to be heated up for washing and then rinsing. Since many families didn't own enough clothes, they'd wear the same shirts and tops two, three or more days in a row.

When I was a kid, it was purely an economical thing. Our heating was either by coal or coke fire. We had an electric boiler for hot water, but running it cost money, so you only boiled what you needed. To keep the electricity bills down, that meant a weekly bath... and though we weren't a poor family, we weren't well off either, so I didn't have lots of school clothes. I seem to recall I had three school shirts, and I used to wear the same shirt on two consecutive days - and would be lightly scolded if I got it dirty Come to think of it, I wore the same underwear and socks a couple of days in a row, too...

I had an interesting conversation with my Mum earlier today about the current toilet roll shortage during this coronavirus pandemic. She was telling me that in the immediate post-war years, and for some considerable time, her family never had toilet paper. They, like everyone else in their neighbourhood, tore up squares of old newspapers and hung them in the netty (the outside toilet at the end of the garden). Imagine the kids of today having to wipe their bums on yesterday's Daily Mail... although I tend to think that's a pretty fit use for it

We have it better now, thankfully... but for some, I guess, old habits (and the habits of our parents) die hard. Not me, though. I shower thoroughly every morning, and if I do anything strenuous and break a sweat, I might occasionally have another shower or a bath in the evening. I wear a fresh shirt or top most days. I certainly wear fresh smalls and socks each day. Same with my Mum and Dad. These seem like basic necessities, but when you think of it, we (and most others in economically developed countries) are incredibly fortunate...

The coming of the electric shower in the mid 1980s is probably the biggest step forward for personal hygiene, and totally agree BigMackCam about once a week full bath . It was always Friday evening in our house when I was young, it was simply home economics .