Kitchen Chemistry.

Oh dear. Or rather, Oh No Not Again.

Bloke came round to do the annual gas appliance check. He noticed Bear was on Facebook. Bear spends a lot of time online.

"Huh!" He grumbled. "Facebook. I said to my lass, are you going to spend any longer on there?"

"She looked me straight in the eye and said, with a perfectly straight face, 'You make me come off Facebook and I'm divorcing you'. I think she meant it too! What's that about after 35 years of marriage?"

Bear opened her mouth, and caught the warning glance from me that only married couples recognise. And went back to Facebook.

Last years gas check man said almost the same thing. Interesting.

~~~~

Poor Mr T. a few doors away isn't very well. Cough, sore throat, can barely talk. As usual, he can't get a doctors appointment for a week.

I've a rep around here for knocking together combo's of common herbs and/or spices to relieve the symptoms for next to nothing. I guess my free is a lot cheaper than the same stuff you can pick up for a couple of quid at the chemist. But for some people around here two or three quid is a lot of money.

Besides. I enjoy doing it. I've given Mr. T. some good fashioned table salt to gargle with ( 1 Tsp to a pint of warm water ) Ok, it's not very nice. But it works.

Meanwhile, he was looking for some of my sore throat mix. It's nothing more complex than cloves, ginger, aniseed and a few other old fashioned bit's and bobs. That's going to take me overnight to make. Then I had a brainwave.

I make my own toffee, fudge and other sweets for presents. Why not try and make a 'medicated' sweet?

So that's what Mr. T. is getting tomorrow.

Statutory warning. Most commercial products are derivatives of what great, great grandma used to make. The active ingredient of gaviston or alka salza for instance, is tiny amounts sodium bicarbonate. Kitchen Chemistry. An alkali neutralises excess stomach acid.

Anything used in excess can be dangerous, and a lot of very old medicines are downright lethal. So don't google them. I'm not into homoeopathy. I think it's a load of cobblers. But a common sense, back to basics approach to common, kitchen cupboard herbs and spices in small amounts can relieve the symptoms. I doubt very much it will be a cure.

I can help make Mr. T. feel better until his doctors appointment. But in the end, he'll probably need an antibiotic.