A gift not to be sneezed at!
THEY say you should never look a gift sock in the heel, but let’s be honest . . . If you’ve ever received a pair for Christmas, they were boring gifts if you were a man - and of very little use if you were a woman!
The same applies if you receive a gaudily-patterned tie.
Although it could double as a temporary dog lead. After being taken for a walk with a purple, yellow and red tie around its neck, any self-respecting pooch would tear it to pieces at the earliest opportunity.
If you receive socks for Christmas, whoever bought them for you spent more time wondering what you’d be buying them than they had about what to buy you.
However! A set of cotton handkerchiefs, despite being an even blander present than socks, or a tie that remains unworn at the back of a wardrobe, is always welcome.
Why? Because December is a cold weather month.
Cold weather months are traditionally when we get colds and flu. Colds lead to sneezing and sneezes have to be caught before they spread germs.
We knew all this before March 2020.
Since then, we’ve been even more conscious of it.
So, Phil, all this chatter about socks, ties and hankies is very interesting… but where are you going with it? I’m so glad you asked. Weather reports within local news opt-outs during ITV’S breakfast show are currently ‘sponsored’ by a cold relief product – and the advertisements to promote it show people sneezing into the crook of their arm in a most disgusting way, as if that’s the norm.
It isn’t!
Sneezing into the crook of your arm doesn’t stop germs spreading.
They bounce off on to the person closest to you.
And any droplets that fly out of your nose have to be cleaned off your sleeve with a paper tissue, which would have been better used if you’d sneezed into it.
I reckon that early morning advertisement should revive the slogan I remember from my childhood, which clearly explains the correct procedure.
“Coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Trap your germs in a handkerchief!”
Preferably a clean cotton one you were given for Christmas.