Friday 7 September 2012

Germ Warfare



"Can I ask you something?"  Kelly said this morning. "You being a dog lady and all, you know about such things. I had a really big row with this woman yesterday".

"Did you? Of course, you can. What was it about?"

"Well this woman always brings her dog to walk in our cul-de-sac, when there are fields all around. I've seen her before. All she needs to do is leave the estate and she could walk for miles."

"So what is it you don't like about her?"

"Well, when it says 'no fouling', what exactly does it mean?"

"It means that you have to clean up after your dog".

"I saw that she let him go into next doors front garden and he actually peed on their grass".

"Kelly, peeing isn't fouling. Fouling is leaving dog poo behind".

"Well, to be honest, she did pick up the poo. But it just shouldn't be allowed. I had such a row with her. I told her that she should take the dog to the fields. That our kids play in the street and could pick up her dog's germs. She said she cleaned up after him, 'here's the bag', she said. It was disgusting. So I said to her did she have a bottle of disinfectant so she could wash it off, because even if she picks it up there are still germs left behind".

Kelly was working herself up into a state of breathless indignation all over again.

I couldn't help myself, I laughed, long and loud. I was tempted to go into a long discourse on 'germs' but came up with nothing but "Oh Kelly". There would have been no point. I have noticed how she sploshes disinfectant generously around my house, but I've stopped her using it on kitchen surfaces. Kelly sees the world's salvation in the eradication of 'germs'.

She is in her very early forties, her children are still in junior school; I've seen them, they are pale and pasty-faced puddings who instantly fall victim to any bug passing by the school gates. The whole family coughs and splutters and belly-aches its course through winter.

Oh Kelly. Is that what young women do? Destroy their children's and the world's immune system?




49 comments:

  1. I guess some do. The world is full of fearful people and I do not know how they get that way. The world is such a strange and dangerous place for them, it seems.

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  2. They are brainwashed into thinking that it is their duty to protect their families from 'bugs'.
    Pure commercialism using love and care as marketing tools.

    A saying prevalent in the time of my grandmothers was
    'You'll eat a peck of dirt before you die...'
    I find that attitude much more healthy.

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  3. It seems to be much more common. There are even advertisements for disinfectants that sense your hands and issue a measured amount 'so you don't have to get germs from the lid'. Huh? If you are washing your hands in the stuff anyway...?
    As children we got grotty and grimy most days. It was part of childhood.

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  4. Another victim of television advertising.

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  5. Amen, Friko



    Aloha, Friend
    from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^=

    > < } } ( ° >

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  6. oy...haha i had a good laugh at her as well...i could not imagine trying to disinfect everything....much less after a dog poops...but even worse after my boys...

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  7. That fear of germs thing can be debilitating.

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  8. I probably would have said nothing as well, assessing the futility.

    ....and just feeling that the bigger enemy is the overflow of angst.

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  9. Little by little, a consensus is forming - exposure to germs in childhood is a good thing. The incidence of asthma and allergies is significantly lower in rural children, and exposure to animals, dirt and such is the obvious difference. Here's a little article about the so-called "hygiene hypothesis. It boils down to "put away the antibacterial soaps, pet a puppy and eat a spoonful of dirt - you'll be better for it".

    I don't doubt it. When I was a kid, we ran barefoot, washed our hands only before dinner, played in dirt and running water and generally had a great time. No one died, and none of us got sick, except for the usual childhood diseases. Not only that, we grew up unafraid of the world.

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  10. You need good germs and bad germs to balance everything out, to much of one germ will make you sick big time.

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  11. LOL! I would love to be a fly on the wall in that woman's life when she re-tells the same story!

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  12. Laughing was, I guess, the best you could do... since the whole thing was rather ridiculous. Sadly, not for Kelly and the likes of her! And by their fanatic use of disinfectants, such people really don't do their children a favour. Or anyone else, for that matter. With the exception of those who produce and sell said disinfectants.

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  13. That turned my breakfast into a good laugh.

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  14. Hello:
    In today's very 'protective' society we often wonder how we survived childhood at all!

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  15. I spent the last eleven years with large groups of small children coughing , sneezing and worse all over me .... and became immune to everything except bubonic plague .
    But if Kelly weren't worrying about germs , she'd be worrying about something else . Every generation has its bugaboos .

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  16. Oh god. Seriously? I'm so glad I was young at a time when parents still let their kids climb trees, walk 3 miles home from school and cycle off for a whole afternoon completely without supervision. I bet I picked up a lot of germs when I waded in a pool that turned out to be where sewage flowed out. Her poor kids. Do you think Kelly will progress to gas masks soon? I feel so worried for all the germs she's breathing in.

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  17. I'd be the first to advise Kelly not to overdo it with the disinfectant, but she's right about health risks associated with a dog peeing. Leptospirosis is just one of a number of nasty diseases that can be transmitted to humans via canine urine.

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  18. Ha, ha, many people think like Kelly!

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  19. This is one of my pet hates! I can't understand this constant need to wash our hands (a woman I knew kept wet wipes especially to clean her hands with after touching money) disinfectant is fine in hospitals, cleaning toilets and cat's litter trays ... but I certainly don't want to ingest it every time I eat. Kelly is just one of millions (sadly) who is taken in by the excellent ad campaigns.
    Next step food and the preparation there of ...

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  20. I understand what you mean Friko. Some people take life too seriously and worry unduly - Dave

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  21. What a sad thing, to go through this beautiful world feeling victimized by it. Fear of life itself, it seems. She's imprisoned herself in her own thoughts. I hope the children find a way out of the maze of fear she's creating for them.

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  22. wat een hele mooie kopfoto en wat een omgeving laat je zien ,prachtig,ik kom hier graag nog eens rondneuzen.

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  23. It's amazing how many people have bought into that. Kelly's kids need to go eat some dirt.

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  24. How very sad, to be afraid of germs. They are everywhere and cannot be eradicated, even if we wanted to. Your observation of the condition of her children is evidence that she has an illness that she has passed onto her children. Your tale is well told, Friko. :-)

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  25. Friko, I wonder what Kelly would make of our New York City subway trains...a true germ allotment!

    xo

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  26. oh dear...poor women's children
    But we can only hope that when the children are grown and free
    they'll have several dogs
    and wear shoes in the house
    what a baket case

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  27. Well written blog that made me laugh and shake my head sadly at the germ-a-phobic woman. Let's all go out and jump in the mud!

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  28. I blame all the adverts for antibacterial handwash and cleaning solutions.To a lot of people with no scientific knowledge the world (and even the kitchen) is a very dangerous place.

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  29. The my baby will be SAFE at all costs moms make me laugh. They have warm-up wipes to wash their butts for a diaper change(I didn't even believe that until I saw them). I know a mom who will not let her son touch people. Now you know whenever she is not around he is probably touching EVERYONE & EVERYTHING for spite.

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  30. I watched a mom let her crawling infant crawl in the airport waiting area yesterday as i was heading home from Amsterdam. Not concerned for germs but definitely concerned that her tot had lots of exercise before being cramped into a jet. Smart mom!

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  31. Exposing children to dogs and cats strengthens their immune system. She needs to read this:

    http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/09/science/la-sci-dogs-cats-babies-health-20120709

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  32. She must not keep up with regular news reports that periodically talk about kids, germs, dirts, pets, etc.

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  33. People like that are terrible, I mean I pity them, with all their fear they have no life anymore and it's well known that farmer's kids are the healthiest once ! Fortunately my son and DIL are not like that. Toby plays wherever he wants to (I only pay attention when it comes to the litterbox) lol !
    Wie gehts da oben in Shropshire ? War gestern dort mit "Escape to the country":) !

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  34. I am very careful about germs. We wash our hands like crazy around here. Your own hands are the biggest problem, especially for men. Studies have shown that E Coli and other bad germs are found on door handles more often than not.

    As for dogs, we kiss our dogs and parrots too. I am flying to California in two weeks and far more concerned with breathing what other humans exhale than anything else. Dianne

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  35. 'Oh Kelly. Is that what young women do? Destroy their children's and the world's immune system?'

    Spot on Friko and then there is of course the demand for antibiotics for everything...

    Anna :o]

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  36. A woman I used to work with observed her daughter obsessing about germs and told her "God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt." I don't know if her daughter found it persuasive, and I for one might dispute "who made dirt," but, otherwise, it seemed persuasive to me!

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  37. Haha! This made my Sunday morning, Friko! Life must be so much more incompatible than what it generally is with this never-ending warfare.

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  38. Oh dear - I feel sorry for women like this.

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  39. What interesting interactions you have with people. Poor Kelly. All this disinfecting of homes is really crazy.

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  40. I just popped over to visit your blog after seeing the comment you left on mine :-) Thanks so much for visiting! This post seriously had me laughing out loud this morning! After working in the medical field for several years, I always wish I could talk a bit of sense into those that feel they have to disinfect everything. This would be exactly why the family falls prey to these little bugs so often....they are building no natural immunity!! I have to say that the things dogs leave behind are so much less yucky than the germs we humans carry, lol.

    Great post and thank for making me smile this morning!

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  41. The next time you see poor Kelly, refer her to http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/100-trillion-good-bacteria-call-human-body-home-3683153.php

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  42. I can see from the comment you left on my blog yesterday and this blog you have given much thought to war lately. However, I am not "for" war or keeping the Dept. of Defense bigger than it needs to be. Unfortunately, whenever there is trouble somewhere most nations seem to turn to us to settle disputes. I would just as soon not intervene anywhere, but what do you do with a Kosovo or Bosnia? How about Rwanda? Bill Clinton says his biggest regret is that he did not do more about Rawanda. Tough call and we often feel someone has to do it.

    After the US entered (under Democrat presidents) every war (WWI, WWI, Korea, Vietnam) of the twentieth century (before the Gulf War, which Conservatives opposed), some wag wrote:

    The Democrats want a small military and they want to send it everywhere, while the Republicans want a big military and they don't want to send it anywere. Some days, you just can't win.

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  43. Dear Friko, I lost my first comment. So here goes again: I grew up on a farm with a well. Periodically we bought water from a company that delivered it in a tanker. But before that happened--because money was always tight--we'd drink the well water to the dregs. What that means is that toward the end of every supply we had to strain out the squiggly worms. Mom always said, "If you kids can survive this farm and its germs, you'll survive everything!" And I think she was right!!! Peace.

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  44. Poor Kelly. Poor Kelly's kids . . .

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  45. I don't get it either, but what do you do, so long as they clean up after it? In the city, we aren't so lucky to have areas where they can run about. I'd call it building up immunities!

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