Slappers and stickers

Here's a tip.

I often make my own jams, pickles and chutneys, and it kind of makes sense to me that if I have to spend money on jam jars, I might as well buy jams and wotnot from the shop. So I barter with friends and neighbours. They get a jar of my rather wonderful sweet chilli, piccalilli, jam or chutney if they provide a couple of jars.

Being a Brit, I ignore stupid European Union  rules that re-using jam jars is illegal that could land you with a £5000 fine or even a jail term.

I naturally did the Wheelie thing and phoned the European Commision in London for a friendly and amusing chat. The person I spoke to suggested - when they got back to me after deciding I was mostly harmless, that the "Church of England needed a good slap"

They deny it, saying that it only applies to commercial operations, the EU doesn't have the power to enforce fines, and anyway that it's down to local authorities to enforce it. Don't know British local authorities do they?

Anyways, removing the labels is easy. Soak them for a while in a sink of hot water. Removing the glue left behind used to be a problem. No amount of scrubbing seem to shift it. I used to buy a quite expensive 'orange oil' which was very good, but it isn't cheap.

I have teenage girl. Teenagers like stickers. Bloomin' things turn up everywhere. Doors, on dining chairs. Removing them was easy, but the same old glue problem. Out of orange oil, and fed up of scrubbing, I sat and thought what it was about it that worked.

So I tried orange skin. Nope. Orange juice? Nope. Lemon Juice, nah. So if it wasn't the citrus element?

It had to be the oil. So I tried sunflower oil. Bingo! worked first time. Since then I've discovered that left-behind-adhesive can also be removed by smearing it with vaseline, leaving it for a few minutes, and wiping off.

And the EU rules? I don't recycle guv, honest. I re-purpose. We don't defy rules. We find a way around them :)