h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How about six sinks, three soap dispensers, one hand drier? I can't remember where I was when I saw that, but I was the only woman in there (fortunately!) so I didn't have to queue to dry my hands.

"One soap between ten sinks - who on thinks that suffices? "

Wow, that does not suffice in any logical scheme indeed - the potential slip hazard of people dropping the soap on the floor as they move around is just for starters...

men/women sometimes complain about the existence of the two gender-neutral toilets in my workplace because they don't like cleaning up after women/men who have left them in a mess (although they make no comment on the habits of nonbinary people, and there are gendered toilets a few feet away). I am grateful for the existence of gender-neutral toilets, though, not least because they are self-contained units - one basin, one soap, one drier

My main problem with gender neutral facilities is that the ones I've seen in the UK are "accessible" for disabled people. Being disabled myself, I welcome these facilities. Unfortunately the designers equate disabled with wheelchair. The sink, soap and drier are set low for someone seated. I have bad hips and washing my hands can be a painful experience.

I did once visit accessible facilities with two sinks, one low and one at normal height. But that was the only time I've encountered such consideration.

BTW Bishop Grossteste University, Lincoln, takes gender neutrality very seriously. The sign on the gender neutral facilities shows a person in a wheelchair, a woman, a man and a figure that's wearing half skirt and half trousers. So that could be bisexual, transgender or transvestite. Well done, BGU!

Yes, in the UK 'accessible' toilets are generally gender neutral, but these days not all gender neutral toilets are 'accessible', as more are being introduced, which is good.

I confess I am a wheelchair user, but as I understand it, the idea of the layout is that you can wash your hands while sitting down on the toilet itself.

I admit it doesn't always work like that, though, as the builders can be quite creative about where they put fundamental things like handrails and toilet roll holders, etc...

That's a good idea to have two basins at sitting and standing height The best facilities I ever used had height-adjustable toilet and basin, so you could set it up perfectly for your needs Not many of them around, though, as they must be considerably more expensive to install...

We have moved on though from the mid 1970s when we accompanied an outing of disabled young people & were unable to take a girl with cerebral palsy into the nearest toilet (up steps). We ended up having to sit her on a pot in the car park between two coaches.

But we're far from a fully accessible society.

PH: Blandford fly (A6756519). A small insect that I appear to be mildly allergic to; with each bite I inflate like a balloon and the affected area is itchy and hot.

This is more an inconvenience than anything, but I nevertheless decided to buy some cream for insect bites and stings to deal with the symptoms. On the tube it said 'Relief for bites and stings, contains hydrocortisone. Not to be used on: Pregnant women, babies, genital regions, broken skin, eyeballs, other bites and stings'.

Hang on – bites and sting cream cannot be used for 'other bites and stings'? How do I know whether I've had a bite or an 'other bite'?

<BB<

"We have moved on though from the mid 1970s ... But we're far from a fully accessible society. "

Yes indeed - I'm very grateful for the improvements that have taken place in my lifetime, so I can do a lot more independently now than in the 1980s, but there is still room for improvement in relation to things that shouldn't be that difficult, like putting handrails in helpful places rather than in random places...

"for bites and stings, contains hydrocortisone. Not to be used on: Pregnant women, babies, genital regions, broken skin, eyeballs, other bites and stings'."

That is funny but not funny at the same time... I suppose it's no good against dog bites, for example, but the information could be clearer!

That reminds me of PH rose thorns - absolutely vicious. Got stabbed in my knuckle a few weeks ago, it's still a bit red & tender.

Surely bites and stings are, by definition, "broken skin".

Unless they are small pieces of food and famous musicians...

The tube doesn't even say 'insect bites and stings' on it, just 'bites and stings'. And I'm not convinced it would be much use against all insect bites and stings – so for example if you were being eaten alive by army ants , what help would the bite relief cream be?
But before you think I am being negative about , I'll mention the incredible story of Joan Murray the skydiver whose parachutes failed and she landed right on the top of a fire ant nest, and would have died except the shock of being stung 200 times kept her beating.

She would have found the bite and sting relief cream useless too.

<BB<

I don't think you can use the same treatment for wasp stings as for bee stings. It's bicarb for bees, vinegar for vespulae (wasps). So perhaps that's what they mean by "not suitable for other stings".

CD - I've been saying that for years and you are the only person so far who has ever backed me up on that.

My mother used to have a "blue bag" - which was a little blue bag with bicarbonate of soda in it, which she would dampen and apply to bee stings, but this was not used for wasp stings. I always wondered how one single cream could help with both bee and wasp stings.

I don't react much to wasp stings - they just hurt like hell and make a hard red pimple for a few days - but I am allergic to bee stings: the whole body part swells up.

My youngest son got stung on the big toe by a wasp on the day of my mother's funeral. He spent the day with his foot in a cooler bag full of ice packs, except when he had to go up to read the tribute, but the next day it was still swollen half way up his leg.








The story of the parachutist landing in an anthill is a beautiful example of two wrongs making a right.





My own version of two wrongs making a right is Ketchup flavoured Pringles. Both aberrations, but together - yummy!

Which could bring us right back round to petty hates - food that you can't stop eating.

*unbuttons trousers and breathes*

Speaking of stings...


DO NOT URINATE ON JELLYFISH STINGS! (I don't care if it did work on "Friends".)

Alcohol, sea water, scraping with (sponges or towels or anything else) also are ineffective. (The Mythbusters tested all these with only moderate results. I don't believe they tested the following recommendation.)

The most important thing (once victim is removed from the water) is to submerse the affected area in HOT but not scalding water, 110 to 113 F (43 to 45 C), for at least 20 minutes. Before soaking in hot water, a 30 second rinse with vinegar may also help.

PH1: Losing things and misplacing things. They could be right in front of me but I won't be able to see it but always seem to look in places where I thought I left it last. Finding mislaid items in strange places and wonder how they got there.

PH2: Getting wrapped up in work and forgetting to drink my hot beverage which I left to cool but when I do finally drink, it is stone cold.

PH3: Not getting my medication dosette boxes delivered on the day and time I am expecting, so I end up having to telephone the chemist and ask them to deliver them but never get told the reason why they were not delivered on the expected day. Having to keep on remind them to send my pain control medication with my dosette box and to give me the right amount.

PH3: I have been waiting for a sensory weighted sheet to be delivered since July 24th. I sent four messages to the company about my delayed order and it took them two weeks for to reply them. They just reply telling me that my order will take 28 working days but according to the website, it should only have taken 2 to 3 weeks.

Bee and wasp stings contain a variety of small protein toxins that neither vinegar nor bicarbonate will treat. Those two things act on a different component of the venom.

What hydrocortisone is for is for reducing any violent immune response (allergic reaction) to the venom proteins.

That warning is probably because the cream has been authorised by NICE, FDA etc for certain uses and not others. It's not really going to cause any harm for other uses, it hasn't strictly been allowed for them so they are required to put a disclaimer like that on.

That said - it does sound like the wording just *could* be better

PH: Yahoo mail service is down due to an outage.

I read that as Yahoo mail being down because of an outrage. I hate it when my eyes and my brain seem to be out of sync.

PH: unnecessary new terms for things. I was searching for knitting or crochet patterns for toys. I kept encountering the word amigurumi. It sounded like a technique I hadn't heard of before, so I looked it up. It's a Japanese word meaning knitted or crocheted toy animal. It would be just as easy, and more meaningful to many, if they simply said "crocheted teddy bear", for example, instead of "amigurumi teddy bear". (Despite meaning knitted or crocheted toy animal, amigurumi toys are always crocheted.)