Illustration by Denis Shifrin

Thicker wet wipes ideal for the little spills in life

You spilled a little something on the kitchen or other floor or you accidentally stepped on a grape or peel and don't want to start cleaning the whole floor – then take one of those useful "wipes" - Huggies or any other similar brand and with your foot just wipe the small area. The Life wet wipes from Super-Pharm are excellent, especially the thicker ones. You can even rewash them if you want. – Thank you Sonia Neu.


Beware of the newspaper ads with largeprint . . .

There is a trend today for the supermarkets to place full page adverts in the newspapers advertising their many Special Discounts on selected goods with beautifully colored photos and very large print. BEWARE! The large print is to keep your attention away from the very small print which may be underneath the picture, or more often at the bottom of the page, pointing out that these discounts are dependent on your spending minimum sums on other goods in their shops (other than on those items that carry the Special Discount). Even more distracting is where the price of the goods is written where you usually look to check the price, and therefore miss the special notice informing you that you have to spend a certain minimum sum to get the price given. This can be above or below, it or elsewhere on the page giving details of the Special Discounts.


Hard 'cell' won't work with me

I am still trying to work out how to deal with all those phone calls from companies that want to give me wonderful offers, and insist that I give them my cell phone number so they can send me their offers by SMS, even though I explain that I do not "live" on my cell phone. Netvision, with whom I have been working now for over 10 years, still keeps on coming up with their "fantastic" special offers provided I give them my cell phone number.


Slow down! These recorded phone messages are spoken too fast
You telephone a company or try to make an appointment with a doctor or some other person; you get a recorded phone message that gives you the address, days and hours of receiving clients and the appropriate phone and fax numbers. However, you expect to talk to someone, and instead you get this whole spiel which comes out at such a speed that even if you had had paper and pen in front of you, you could not have recorded it, and usually it requires a second or even third phone call to record the message.

When I leave my phone number on an answering machine I always repeat the number, even to my hairdresser who has known me for many years!


Why I'm chickening out of old recipes

I love those recipes that tell you to start by frying chicken breasts or other chicken pieces in margarine or oil until golden brown, and instead of any chicken being golden brown you end up with a lot of liquid. When I checked out the date of one particular recipe I found that it went back many a year (and I presume) to the period before they injected all our poultry and fish with antibiotics and other liquid formulas. It makes no difference if the chicken is whole. I roast my whole fresh chicken uncovered in the oven with no salt, seasoning, oil or other ingredients added to it .However, at the end of the roasting, I am left with a considerable quantity of liquid!


A large pill to swallow

Have you noticed lately that pharmaceutical companies are packing fewer pills in larger boxes or containers. Why? All this does is to take up more space in your bathroom cabinets or drawers, and allows the Health Funds to charge us more, because now you may have to take 3 boxes to get the 30 tablets that you need, thereby paying 3 times the minimum charge.