Keeping them clean on a global scale…
15 Oct 2021
Dear LPG,
When we were first introduced to Covid-19 there were many arguments about what we needed to do to best protect ourselves. Who will ever forget the PPE discussions and the whole ‘where and when should you wear a mask, if you should wear one at all’ argument that continues to cause so much controversy.
The one thing that was never in dispute was the fact that washing our hands was going to make all the difference. Did you know that today is Global Hand Washing day?
I remember an article on your pages where KC pointed out the amount of extra pedometer-steps that could be another advantage of washing your hands as directed at the time (►►►), and there are also quite a few bits of online information and statistics which show that our dedication to the practice at the height of the crises took its toll on our water consumption rates.
But it is interesting to note that Global Hand Washing Day was born on 15th October 2008; quite a while before handwashing made headline news. I am sure that we all remember that pre-meal hand washing ritual which was often part of the regime that was one of the many lessons we taught our children after it was taught to us. I suspect that there is not a person in the country who didn’t find their eight-year-old self just about to tuck into a burger when a parent asked the age old question, ’Did you wash your hands?’ I can remember the disappointment that having to leave the food to do the chore caused me on more than one occasion.
I think many of us knew what hand sanitiser was in pre-coronavirus days, but more people keep a little bottle in their handbags or pockets now. But if we are still maintaining the habit, all this hand washing has to be taking a toll on our palms, so I suggest that a small supply of hand cream to keep next to it, even if you are a man who feels getting a bottle of hand cream out in public a bit of a girly thing to do. The internet has reminded me that there is a lot more to washing your hands than just washing your hands.
But while we humans are creatures of habit and take the whole hand washing thing more seriously these days, we are also really good at getting complacent too. So now is as good a time as any for a reminder…
I would like to be the reader who wishes all the others a very happy Global Hand washing day while asking them to remember to keep at it…
KC, Brockley
KC offers some useful information on the day and the activity itself…
