Today I Forked Over Money For...

[SiHart]

I can't see many people out-spending you. Is that the largest purchase we've seen on here?

Thinking back, the day we bought our house might have topped it.

Si xx

[Dirk Gently]

Well you didn't really spend that money, one bank moved it to another & gave you the debt for the privilege.

[SiHart]

True. In which case, the car probably wins.

Si xx

[Jon Masters]

My flatmate does, he seems to think diesel/petrol gives you cancer...

Actually, its not a bad idea if you're pumping diesel, which even if its been treated tends to have a higher sulphur content than petrol and can cause a nasty reaction in some people's skin.

Beleive me, the 'thrill' of buying petrol will soon wear off !!

[Si Hunt]

Is that a random thought he had one day, or any basis in fact? I've never heard that!

Besides which I doubt that being near and smelling a chemical substance is okay as long as you don't physically touch it. If it's dangerous, wearing plastic gloves isn't going to protect you!

Si.

[Jon Masters]

Have my posts become invisible ?

[SiHart]

I think you're right Si.



Si xx

[Jason Thompson]

Besides which I doubt that being near and smelling a chemical substance is okay as long as you don't physically touch it. If it's dangerous, wearing plastic gloves isn't going to protect you!

Tell that to the colleague I had who spilt concentrated sulphuric acid on her hand one day. Inhaling the fumes is bad (she had a bit of a tickle in her throat for a day), getting it on your skin is worse (her hand was bandaged up for a week with chemical burns).

Your sense of smell will detect harmful chemicals (many of them anyway) at ridiculously low concentrations because they are so dangerous. If you spill some of the liquid itself on you it can be absorbed into and through the skin in a far higher dose than you get from inhaling some dispersed fumes in the air.

[Rob McCow]

I have to put diesel in my car today - would you recommend I suit up in rubber?

The nozzle tends to be quite long and unless you spray it or over-fill the tank, then I don't see how either fumes or liquid can really escape.

[Si Hunt]

My brother-in-law's sister recently put Diesel in her boyfriend's new work car. Then she realised it took Petrol.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

That car will have to have its tank drained, Si.
If someone starts to put petrol in a Diesel car but no more than say 5 litres, & then fills the car full of Diesel it will run OK, not brilliant but it can deal with the mix. But any Diesel in a petrol car will knacker a petrol engine if left & used.
But I'm sure you knew that already.

[Antony Cox]

I did that once and it cost me £300 - a very expensive mistake!

You're right though, Tim - in fact I was told that a little unleaded in a diesel tank actually cleans it out a little so can actually be beneficial.

[Antony Cox]

Dinner for two at Bella Italia

I think we ate in there when we visited Manchester a couple of years ago! Is it that place on the edge of that big square in the city centre?

[Jason Thompson]

I have to put diesel in my car today - would you recommend I suit up in rubber?

No, I was taking issue with Si's notion that if you can smell it then getting it on you isn't any more dangerous. That simply isn't true.

What I recommend is taking appropriate care, as I'm sure you and everyone else here does. The smell of petrol at petrol stations tends to indicate that fumes can escape, wouldn't you say? I can't sit in a car in a petrol station without getting a stonking headache, even without idiots spraying the stuff everywhere.

[Si Hunt]

I've never got a headache at a filling station nor ever seen anyone "spraying it everywhere". Which petrol stations are you going to Jason? I'm only there for an average of two minutes so there's not really any time to get a headache or get doused in petrol by a madman.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I think we ate in there when we visisted Manchester a couple of years ago! Is it that place on the edge of that big square in the city cebntre?

The very same The big square being Piccadilly Gardens.

[Rob McCow]

Today I spent around fifty bucks on diesel. I chose not to use the glove. So naturally, there was a little dribble of diesel on the handle of the nozzle! I wiped it off at the petrol station with the complimentary paper towels and I washed my hands when I got home.

[Antony Cox]

The very same The big square being Piccadilly Gardens.

I remember it well because Martin got a big rosemary twig on his pizza and when he complained they halved the bill!

[Pip Madeley]

Funny you should say that, I went in with my CityScene card (which gives me 25-50% off meals in many of the city centre restaurants) and wasn't told by anyone there that it only applied to certain parts of the menu... only found this out when the bill came so I complained and they halved it for me as a gesture of goodwill!

[Antony Cox]

[Jason Thompson]

I've never got a headache at a filling station nor ever seen anyone "spraying it everywhere". Which petrol stations are you going to Jason?

I'm starting to wish I'd never said anything now. The fact is that I get headaches as a result of inhaling low level fumes from petrochemicals. I have done so my entire life. Whether or not you react in the same way makes no difference to the simple fact that petrol fumes ARE present at filling stations. Petrol is very volatile. That's how it works in the first place.

And I never said I've seen anyone spraying it everywhere. It does happen, but it doesn't need to in order for there to be fumes present at the stations.

Can we please move on now? Petrol is a toxic, volatile chemical substance which is dangerous by inhalation and skin contact. That's simple fact. It doesn't mean, nor did I ever imply, that it is immediately lethally toxic on contact in small amounts. Equally that doesn't mean that someone choosing to wear protective gloves is being absurdly overcautious.

[Dirk Gently]

The main reason for the plastic gloves is to stop your hands from smelling of fuel if the nozzle drips either on yourself or the filler surround on your car & then you touch it whilst replacing your filler cap.
I must admit that I only use the plastic gloves to check my tyre pressures, as the valve cap is usually filthy.

[Simon R]

Moving on...today I pre-ordered soon to be re-issued albums by Dame Kim Wilde and Dame Mandy Smith. Albums previously so hard to get on CD that I'd made my own which coincedentally have almost the same bonus tracks as the official ones. It's a Thanks Giving miracle.

[Larry]

bought The Sun and Daily Mail.

[cyberchris35]

I bought Torchwood the Complete Season One boxset for £18 from Asda