Category: Ramblings

One of the consequences of making things with oils and herbs is that you acquire a collection of bottles and jars.  When you find potential containers for your ingredients and creations, many of them come with unwanted labels.

Removing labels from jars and bottles is a chore.  I’ll return to the subject with some of my techniques, but first here’s a story that has just a passing relevance to the subject.

Internment

During 09 and 10 August 1971 the British Army seized 342 people suspected of involvement with the Irish Republican Army.  These people were imprisoned without trial in a makeshift concentration camp on the site of a former RAF station at Long Kesh, 10 miles West of Belfast.  All those arrested were Irish Nationalists and, with few exceptions, Catholic.  The operation was justified by the Northern Ireland and British Governments as a measure to reduce the incidence of violence in the Province of Northern Ireland.  No Protestant Ulster Loyalists were arrested, although Loyalist paramilitaries also routinely carried out acts of violence.  The arrests lead to mass protests and a sharp increase in sectarian violence.

Internment continued until 05 December 1975 when the last 46 internees were released.  The total number of internees was 1,981, of whom 1,874 were Catholic/Republican and 107 were Protestant/Loyalist.

During the years following 1971 the site at Long Kesh was developed with new prison blocks and a perimeter wall.  In plan the new prison blocks resembled a letter ‘H’.  They were colloquially known as ‘The H Blocks’.  The site was renamed as Her Majesty’s Prison Maze.  By the end of internment many who had been interned had stood trial and been convicted of crimes relating to civil violence.  These prisoners were accorded Special Category Status and held in the H Blocks.

Loyalist Prison Officers contrasted the Special Category Prisoners with what they called “Ordinary Decent Criminals”.  In 1978 a group of Special Category Prisoners refused to wear prison uniforms, claiming that they were political prisoners rather than criminals.  They were denied their own clothes, so wore only blankets.  They refused to leave their cells to wash or use a lavatory, smearing their own excrement on the walls of their cells.  This became known as the “Dirty Protest”.

When the wind changes

I spent 4½ months in 1978 on a tour of active duty in Northern Ireland.  My unit was tasked with guarding HMP Maze.  It was rare that anyone asked what we were guarding against, and there was never an answer to the question.  As we battled the boredom of hours spent in watchtowers we were ignorant of the violence that the Loyalist Prison Officers inflicted on Republican prisoners in the H Blocks.  The level of violence caused the European Court of Human Rights to censure the British Government for “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.  The Dirty Protest was, in part, a response by prisoners to being beaten senseless by Prison Officers if they left their cells to use showers or lavatories.

The stench from the H Blocks was extreme.  A change in the wind direction brought little relief.  When we were not downwind of the H Blocks, we were downwind of the nearby glue factory.  The factory made glue by boiling up animal bones from meat-processing plants.  The smell from the factory chimneys was at least as vile as the smell emanating from the H Blocks, and possibly more pervasive.

Both the prison and the glue factory are closed now.

Which brings us back to glue, and labels, and jars and bottles.

Soaking off the Labels

The glue from the Belfast glue factory was water-soluble.  Water-soluble glue was extensively used on labels, as it was on postage stamps.  Stamp collectors separated postage stamps from envelopes by immersing them in water.  Anyone wanting to re-use a glass bottle or jam-jar could use the same method.  The label normally drifted off the glass and remained intact at the bottom of the bowl of water.

Most modern glues are based on petrochemicals.

Sometimes a simple soaking still works.  It’s worth an attempt.  If it doesn’t work, then I start to work through some other techniques.

Other Techniques

Here’s how I set about removing labels…

Plastic Labels

Plastic labels are stronger than paper ones, so I can often lift a corner and peel off the whole label:

Often there’s a sticky residue left where the label has been removed.  Sometimes the residue covers the whole area that the label covered.  In this case it just leaves a few sticky patches:

The sticky residue can be removed using solvents, which I’ll discuss further down this post.

Paper Labels

It might be possible to lift a corner and peel off a paper label.  It’s rare.  The difficulty arises because the glue holds the label to surface more securely than the fibres in the paper stick to each other.  Instead of the paper coming off the surface, the paper splits internally.  One layer of paper comes away, and the other remains stuck to the glue:

I can usually remove most of the paper by scraping with a knife, but there comes a moment when the effort that I’m expending doesn’t seem to be reflected in what I’m removing.  If I haven’t soaked the label in water before, this is when I soak it for a while and then try to scrape off some more of the paper.

Glue Residues

After a combination of peeling, scraping and soaking there is invariably something still stuck to my bottle or jar.  There is always a glue residue.  Sometimes there’s still some stubborn paper as well:

The solution to removing glue and paper residues is to find an effective solvent.

Solvents

I’ve already used the most readily available solvent – water.  Here are three more to try:

Alcohol

Alcohol mixes well with water (and other things!).  If I can’t remove a residue with water, experience tells me that I’m unlikely to be able to remove it with alcohol.

I still think alcohol deserves a mention here.  Once I’ve managed to remove most of a glue residue, there are usually dull smear marks on the surface.  A little alcohol on cotton wool or kitchen paper will remove the smears and leave the surface sparkling.

I use Isopropyl Alcohol.  It’s cheap, effective, and it has other uses besides polishing up surfaces.  Vodka or gin would work, but they are subject to duty and so they are more expensive.  They too have other uses.

Acetone

Outside industrial contexts, acetone is most familiar as the active ingredient in nail polish remover.  It’s the only ingredient in most nail polish removers.  You can buy 15ml of branded nail polish remover for about GBP 8.  That works out at over GBP 500 for a litre of acetone.  Alternatively, you can buy a litre of generic acetone for about GBP 10.

Acetone is highly flammable.  it is normally very effective at removing glue residues.  However, in addition to its flammability it has two other drawbacks:

While it is safe to use acetone on glass or ceramic surfaces, it is definitely not safe to use on plastic or resin surfaces.  Acetone is just as effective a solvent for plastics and resins as it is for glue residues.

The smell!  Acetone belongs to the family of chemicals called ketones.  It has a smell reminiscent of the sweets called pear drops, but the smell is much more powerful.

Paraffin

Paraffin is my solvent of choice for removing glue residues.

The fact that paraffin is used as a fuel indicates that it is flammable.

Once paraffin was extensively used in the UK as a fuel for domestic heating.  Although domestic paraffin heaters and paraffin heaters for greenhouses are still advertised, I can’t remember the last time I saw either of the iconic brands Esso Blue or Pink Paraffin offered for sale.

The paraffin sold for heating suffers from one of the drawbacks of acetone.  It has a pervasive and unpleasant smell.  Fortunately, there is a version of paraffin that doesn’t have such a pervasive odour, and it’s readily available.

The paraffin I use is sold as lamp oil, for use in decorative oil-lamps.  There are scented and unscented, clear and coloured versions available.  I use the unscented and uncoloured version which I can buy by the litre for about GBP 7.  I’ve been using this bottle for a while:

I find a litre bottle is a bit unwieldy when I only use enough to moisten a small piece of absorbent paper at any one time.  I’ve decanted some into a 50ml laboratory reagent bottle for regular use, and to limit the amount of flammable liquid that I keep in the house:

Paraffin removes most glue residues.  I soak a small piece of kitchen paper with paraffin.  I use that to wet the glue residue and any remaining paper that is stuck to the surface I’m trying to clean.  After that it’s just a case of rubbing with the moistened paper to clean the surface.  The paraffin eventually evaporates completely and the surface is ready for a final polish with a little alcohol.

Other Techniques

I take the attitude that there is only so much effort I’m prepared to expend to remove a label.  If a label won’t yield to my regime of soaking, scraping and solvents, then I tend to give up and find a more productive use of my time.  However, I can imagine a situation when a jar or bottle was just too good to abandon, despite a very stubborn label.

There are a couple of other approaches that have been recommended, and that have some credibility.  I haven’t tried them (yet), but you might find them useful or interesting.

Heat

Glue may melt if it is heated.  So a glue that doesn’t soften when it is soaked in cold or warm water might be susceptible to softening in hot or boiling water.

It may also be possible to soften glue, and particularly glue residues, using dry heat.  I might try putting the jars or bottles in an oven, or I could use the heat gun I use to even up the surface of container candles:

The reason I avoid using high temperatures to remove labels is that I’m averse to burning my fingers.  Once I’d got a label or residue hot, I’d still have to peel or scrape it.  I think that would be difficult when wearing heat-proof gloves.

Peanut Butter

I don’t regularly keep peanut butter in the house.  If I did I would be tempted to try using it to remove glue residues from glass or ceramic surfaces.  The vegetable oil in peanut butter could be an effective solvent for petrochemical glue, and the ground peanuts would act as an abrasive paste to clean the surface.

“Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee O Lord. “

– Evening Prayer, the Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils,
The Book of Common Prayer and administration
of the sacraments and other rites and ceremoniesof the Church
according to the use of The Church of England.

No, NO, NO!

I’d like to keep my darkness, thank you very much!

It’s early December. The sun set a couple of hours ago. It’s been a day of drizzling rain driven by a cold breeze. The rain has held off since sunset, but the temperature is around 5C. Four people sit around a small wood fire in a patch of woodland. The surrounding woodland softens the breeze, but it’s still brisk enough to make the embers glow. Eyes glisten in the firelight. Soft voices and gentle laughter barely rise above the crackling of the fire. The trees seem to converge above us, just slightly darker than the overcast sky.

At this moment, there is nowhere I’d rather be than in this darkness. Darkness sharpens my appreciation of the light of day. The daylight deepens my appreciation of the night.

A rambling story

Route 65M, the road along the Western bank of the Red Sea in Egypt, goes from Hurghada in the North to the Sudanese border in the South. Inland of the road there is desert. On the other side there are beaches and coves, and the Red Sea. About 140 Km South of the airport at Hurghada you can find Roots Dive Camp. The nearest town is El Qoseir, another 14 Km further South.

Roots offers wonderful SCUBA diving in the Red Sea. Other than that, the camp is simple and comfortable. The food is similarly simple, but the chef worked out the causes of Pharaoh’s Revenge a long time ago, so this is one place in Egypt where there is no fear of tummy upsets. Evening meals are normally taken in the camp, but about once a week everyone makes the short trek across the road to the beach for a barbecue.

After one such barbecue, L and I made our way across the road and back to the camp. L looked up and gasped:

“What’s THAT?”

“It’s the Milky Way.” I said. I just managed to stop myself from saying: “It’s the Milky Way, Silly!” because it really wasn’t a silly question at all.

After gazing at the sky in wonder until our necks were sore, we made our way back to our room. Along the way I worked out that this was the first time I’d seen the Milky Way since camping out in Northern Europe in the 1980s. Before that, it had been a common sight in the rural Midlands of England when I was a child. L was brought up in a town on the South coast of England and she had never seen the Milky Way. During our lifetimes, our darkness has been lightened.

Black and White

It’s nice to have certainty. It’s nice to be able to say: “This is good” or “This is bad”. It’s nice to be able to take any set of polar opposites and assign them as good and bad. It’s nice to see things as black and white. White is good; black is bad. Light is good; dark is bad. Positive is good; negative is bad. Four legs good; two legs bad. Right is right; left is wrong. I’m right; you’re wrong. East; West. Female; male. Continue ad absurdum…

“Without darkness there’s no light”

– Peter Sarstedt.

He had a point. We could not imagine white if black did not exist. I’ve tried to define white without reference to black, and it doesn’t really work. The easiest definition, and the first that comes to mind is “the opposite of black”.

So black and white are different. They depend upon each other for their existence. In the symbol of Yin and Yang they are equal, opposite, interconnected, and each contains a little of the other. There’s so much concentrated in a simple, familiar symbol.

Darkness and Light

The cartoon image of a burglar resonates with us. He wears a striped sweater and a mask across his eyes. He carries a flashlight and a swag bag. He comes in darkness.

Real burglars don’t wear striped sweaters or carry bags labelled “swag”. They realise that wearing a mask or waving around a flashlight is the quickest way to signal their ill intentions. They are more likely to telephone you or send you an email than to attempt to enter your home in person. And if they do intend to break and enter, they’ll probably do it in daylight when there’s plenty of other activity to distract from what they are doing.

We buy Security Lights and use them to surround our property. The association of words, “security” and “light” resonates with us because we still believe in the cartoon burglar. We think the (good) light will dispel the (bad) darkness and all the bad things we associate with it. To a real burglar the security lights say: “Look, I’ve got something you might want to steal. Come back when there’s no-one around, and you won’t trip over anything when you approach.”

More rambling stories – (1) Bonaire

For anyone who has dived on a tropical reef and marvelled at the diversity of life it supports, it’s a real treat to dive the reef at night. The reef takes on a different character at night. Corals bloom, and a different population of fish venture out in darkness. The beam of a torch focuses attention on a relatively small area, and it reflects rich colours that are muted by sunlight during the day. Many of the nocturnal creatures venture out under cover of darkness to escape the predators that hunt in daylight.

Tarpons are large fish, growing to lengths of up to 2.4 metres. They bear some resemblance to mackerel, but on a much larger scale. Two tarpons lived around the dock at a dive resort in Bonaire called Cap’n Don’s Habitat. Nicknamed Charlene and Charlie, they were 1.5 metres and 2 metres long. They would shadow divers on the reef at night, holding position slightly above and behind where the divers couldn’t see them. They used the light of divers’ torches to hunt. It’s a little disconcerting when a fish that’s as big as you speeds past your shoulder in the dark.

Yes, there are predators in the darkness. They pay little attention to other creatures in the darkness. They are looking into the light to identify their prey.

More rambling stories – (2) London

On 24 Nov 17, a Friday at the height of the Christmas shopping season in London, reports of terrorist attacks threw London City Centre into a panic. The stories of attacks centred on London Underground stations. They were all too plausible, especially for those who remembered the attacks that took place on 07 July 2005, the so-called 7/7 attacks. In a mass panic people fled the area around Underground stations and the stores in London’s West End.

L and I were in London on that Friday evening. We heard the news while we were on Piccadilly. Our train home was scheduled to leave Paddington station a couple of hours later. Our route by Underground would have taken us through the areas affected by the supposed attacks, so we elected to walk. We planned a circuitous route avoiding the prime shopping areas of Regent Street and Oxford Street, Liberty’s and Selfridge’s.

Our route took us through Hyde Park. Part of the park was accommodating Winter Wonderland, a combination of funfair and a Christmas market. Winter Wonderland was brightly lit. As we skirted round the market, I stepped off the wide pathway into the shadows of the trees that lined it. Crowding in the light didn’t feel safe. If there was anyone about with ill intent, I didn’t want to be an illuminated target. From the shadows, I could see without being seen. I was with the predators, not their prey.

“Hello Darkness, my old friend”

– Paul Simon

 

“I say, I say, I say!  My dog’s got no nose!”
“How does he smell?”
“Terrible!”

Music Hall joke from the 1930s

Humans versus Dogs

If you have read anything about the human sense of smell, it has probably been compared unfavourably with that of a dog.  When you get past the hyperbole (10,000 times better, 100,000 times better) you may find more consistently quoted comparisons.  A dog, apparently, has 30 million olfactory receptors where humans have only 6 million.  The part of a dog’s brain that processes odours is 40 times larger than that of a human, apparently.

Recent studies have challenged this received wisdom.  The idea that a dog’s sense of smell is so superior was first published in 1879, and since then most comparisons have been subject to confirmation bias.  CBC recently reported a study by John McGann, of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, which concluded that humans could track scents well.  It concluded that: “It can be said that we are as good as, but not the same as, our canine companions”.

McGann’s study engaged 32 human volunteers to track a scent whilst blindfolded and wearing earmuffs, thick gloves and padded kneepads to limit input from other senses.  The volunteers tracked the scent across the ground while on all fours.  Two thirds of them “did pretty well”.

Why we smell

Most animals rely on a sense of smell to:

• • • Detect danger
    • Find water
    • Find food
    • Find a mate
    • Determine if a potential mate or rival is in season.

Humans are still equipped with a sense of smell capable of all these things.  It’s just that at some point in our evolution we started walking upright.  Our noses were no longer close to the ground to find water or food, and they weren’t on the same level as our genitals to guide us to a suitable mate.   We came to rely  on sight as our primary sense and disregarded smell.  Now, if somebody is physically incapable of detecting and identifying smells, we don’t even consider it a disability.

Our sense of smell begins to develop in the womb.  Immediately after birth it is our most developed sense, guiding us to food.  As adults, our sense of smell is usually more reliable than a “sell by date” as a means of determining whether food is fit for consumption.

As we develop, our sense of smell can still warn of danger (for example by smelling gas, or smelling fire). The expression “something smells” is used in connection with situations that don’t feel right, for example when we suspect a scam.

Most women have a better sense of smell than most men.  The sensitivity of a woman’s sense of smell varies during her menstrual cycle.  A few people, male and female, have a much more acute sense than the majority.  Some have little to no sense of smell at all.  Although women generally have a superior sense of smell, many perfumiers, “the noses”, are men.

How we smell

Our senses of smell and taste are closely linked, and the brain processes them in similar ways.  Our other senses pass through a section of the brain called the thalamus.  The thalamus operates as a filter, reducing the level of “noise” that would otherwise disrupt our conscious thoughts.  Our sense of smell bypasses the thalamus.  If we detect a new smell, we know about it at once.  More than that, a new smell is instantly linked to our memories.  Anything we already know about it is immediately recalled. Smell is our most visceral sense, able to affect our emotions directly.

There is a strong link between smells and memory.    Although we are not aware of the background smells in our home, the distinctive collection of smells is imprinted on our memory.  If we leave home for a while, we become used to different smells as a background.  On our return we are briefly aware of the characteristic smell of our home.  If you visited a grandmother’s home as a child, you probably remember its distinctive smells.

Loss of sense of smell can be an early indicator of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Smelling Good

Smell has a significant role in our selection of a mate, and how we engage them. Both our natural body odours and perfume play parts in this process. In the seventeenth century a woman might peel an apple and hold it under her armpit before sending it to a lover or prospective lover.  In modern western society, body odours are masked with deodorants which contain synthetic scents. Although these synthetics can mask natural body odours to our conscious mind, the odours are still present. We perceive them unconsciously and they affect our emotional responses.

Overload

We filter out smells that we have been experiencing for a while. We are not aware of background smells, only new ones as they appear. New smells may indicate danger, so grab our attention until we have identified them.  We are not interested in persistent background smells. That’s how we perceive stinky people but stinky people can live with themselves.

The ability to filter out persistent smells can be unhelpful for people who use their sense of smell constantly.  Perfumiers, sommeliers and people who taste tea or coffee to assess its quality need to keep their sense of smell engaged. One method of refreshing a sense of smell is to inhale through woollen fabric, the sheepier smelling the better.

It’s time to smell the coffee…

This post is in the category of Ramblings.  There is a serious point, but it takes the pretty route rather than the direct one.

There was once a bookshop in Cheltenham that sold books about cooking.  It sold new cookbooks and second-hand cookbooks, and it was called:

COOKING: THE BOOKS

The bookshop closed a few years ago.  Since the first time I saw the name I’ve been looking for an opportunity to adapt it.  Now I’ve found one.  I present:

SHAVING: THE COSTS

 

The road to enlightenment

Last year, when travel was commonplace, L and I travelled to Maui.  We had set ourselves the challenge of spending a minimum of one night in every State in the US.  After visiting 36 others, the time had come to visit Hawaii.  This was to be a one-State trip, more of a holiday and less of an expedition than most of its forerunners.

We based ourselves in one of the resort complexes to the South of Lahaina. We quickly remembered that we are not resort people.  The resort was relegated to a place to sleep while we spent the days elsewhere.  One day we went exploring along the sea front, through other resorts, around the golf courses and into Lahaina itself.  We made the banyan tree at the Northern end of Lahaina our destination, but sightseeing along the way was at least as important as finding the tree.

As we approached Lahaina, we passed a small shop that stocked swimwear.  The fabric used in the swimwear was manufactured using salvaged fishing nets as the raw material (Econyl).  The shop wasn’t open on our outward walk, but we planned to check it later to see if it contained a holiday treat for L.

We spent a little time in the shade of the Banyan tree.

The shop was open as we headed back to the resort.  The proprietor discreetly extinguished a small spliff under the counter as we went in.  L spent some time trying on swimwear while I browsed the jewellery, Palo Santo sticks, and other items also on sale.  Among the items on display was a safety razor with a wooden handle.  Given the context, that razor was probably not destined to shave faces.  (I’ve recently seen an estimate that among women below the age of 45 in Europe and the US, fewer than 5% will allow hair to grow anywhere but on their heads.)

Let’s hold the idea of seeing a safety razor in Lahaina in 2019, and step back nearly half a century.

A modern history of shaving

In Autumn 1971 Gillette launched the first multi-blade razor.  It was known as the Trac II.  In England and Europe it was marketed as the G II. The concept was that the first blade passing over a hair follicle would pull the hair out as it cut it, and the second would cut off a little more before the hair retracted.  My father told me that this was nothing new – it was an old soldiers’ trick to put two worn-out blades into a safety razor to get a couple of extra shaves out of them.  (This saved money on razor blades which could more usefully be spent on beer.)

The launch of the G II in Europe only just preceded my entry into a profession that expected me to be clean shaven every day.  Like most of my generation and those that followed, I elected to use multi-blade cartridge razors.  I swallowed the marketing that pitched them as safer than the safety razors they replaced, and believed the claims they gave a closer shave.

The moment of resolution

Back in a swimwear shop in Lahaina in 2019 , a number of ideas were coming together.  I’d been uncomfortable for a while with the apparent cartels behind shaving products, but needed a nudge to attempt the switch to something unfamiliar.  I gave myself that nudge while L was trying on swimwear.  We left the shop with new swimwear for L and a few sticks of Palo Santo.  I left the razor in the shop to its fate, but took away a resolution.

Back at home, it was time to follow through on my resolution.  There are many good articles about switching to using a safety razor.  A quick internet search will turn up lots.  This is one that I liked.

Making the switch

I found a suitable razor (for GBP 15) and a supply of 100 blades (for GBP 8.50).  I determined to use the new razor for at least a month in case I found it difficult.

The safety razor comprises three parts, plus a blade:

I keep my used blades in a small tin that once contained mint sweets.  When it is full (in a few years’ time) I’ll just tape the tin shut and put it with scrap metal for recycling:

There was a little blood in the first week or two of shaving with the new razor, but nothing alarming.  After more than six months nothing would persuade me to use a cartridge blade razor again.  My morning shaving ritual is more mindful and a better start to the day.  That alone is powerful justification for making the switch, but it gets better.

Economics

In four months using a safety razor, I use 8 blades (one a fortnight).  That amounts to less than 5 grammes of scrap metal which is 100% recyclable.  Safety razor blades come packed in a tiny amount of paper and cardboard, and it is all recyclable.  Eight Gillette Fusion cartridge blades weigh more than 53 grammes with their plastic caddy.  The cartridges are made of mixed materials, plastic and metal, and probably end up in landfill because it’s not an economic proposition to separate the components.  They are sold in substantial mixed plastic and cardboard packaging which is also difficult to separate for recycling.

There is more than a tenfold difference in the trash generated by cartridge blade razors and safety razors.  The difference in costs is even greater.  Cartridges cost about GBP 2 each (and some much more).  Safety razor blades can cost less than GBP 0.10 each (if you avoid the premium brands such as Gillette and Wilkinson Sword) and last about as long.  That means using cartridge blades is more than twenty times more expensive than using a safety razor.  Using a payback calculation,  I saved the GBP 15 that I paid for my new razor in less than 4 months.

I wonder if anyone bought that razor in Lahaina…