We are expected to be clean and have good habits if we have been brought up properly.  Every child should be washing their hands thoroughly after going to the toilet, after playing with messy stuff and having been in the garden and after playing with a pet.  They must certainly have been taught from birth to wash hands thoroughly before eating any food and best practice is to wash hands before sitting at the table for a meal.

In these days of pandemic and pandamonium in the media, one would think that hand washing was the latest trend and new ‘go to’ activity.  However, it does have to be shouted from the roof tops.  The chance of passing on all germs is great when folk don’t wash hands regularly but particularly at the moment, this activity is part of the mantra, together with don’t sneeze into hands – use a tissue, hankie, piece of paper – and throw away properly in a waste bin,  or failing any of those, into the elbow of your sleeve.   Things we took so for granted as normal everyday behaviour needs reiterating all the time.  Older men particularly seem to display a vehement dislike of being told to wash.  I’ve seen many examples of men really being rude at the constant reminders.  They wonder then why so many men have succumbed to the virus!