Gloves... *singing* “Hands that do dishes, can feel soft as your face....”

Who remembers that jingle? And, even better, who remembers the spoof version by the Goodies?

*singing*

“For hands that wash crocks,

And your old man's socks:

Use wild grey Hairy Liquid!”

Alas, I've searched the internet - well, those parts which I can reach in twenty minutes, having been distracted by the “String” sketch - and can't find any pictures or clips of the sketch, but I seem to remember it was Tim Brooke-Taylor doing the washing up, then peeling off the rubber gloves to reveal a pair of fake monster hands. 

Ah, happy days.

Anyway, on with the plot: today it is In Praise Of Gloves, as I have just taken delivery of a big pack of these Showa Thermo gloves:

 

I really like these gloves, they are my go-to gloves on days when it's a bit cold, but not “that” cold, and a bit wet, but not absolutely sodden: they are the perfect compromise between proper winter gloves - my favourite being these Skytec Argons which are latexed right up to, and just beyond, the back of the knuckles:

 

...and the standard thin latex-ed gardening gloves:

 

... which are, like the Skytec ones, latexed beyond the knuckles, but which - being thin - can be very cold to wear.

So the Showa 451s are ideal: their thermal lining is enough to keep the hands nice and cosy on these “not-really-full-winter-yet” days, when the Skytec ones, with their super-thick fluffy lining, would make the hands sweat, but when it's too cold for the thin ones.

They last pretty well: here's one of my current working pairs:

 

.. and at this time of year, I'll definitely have at least two pairs in my work bag, because if it is moderately wet, well, they do soak up water on the backs of the fingers, so it's good to have a pair to change into. And more pairs at home, to swap in at lunchtime! And that's why I buy them in bulk, so I always have some ready to be brought into circulation, while the first pair(s) are on the drying rack.

Now for a quick unsolicited testimonial: these gloves are available from most garden centres, as well as many on-line suppliers, including the all-encompassing might of Amazon, of course, where they are usually around the £8 a pair mark. I buy mine from safetygloves.co.uk and, once you hit their “free postage” threshold of £40, they are only £4.79 a pair, inc VAT. That means buying 11 pairs at a time, but that's ok with me! They do a whole range of gloves, including the Skytec Argons, so if you get through anywhere as near as many pairs of gloves as I do, it's well worth taking a look at their website.

End of unsolicited testimonial.

At this point, someone usually ask “How long do they last?” and that's not easy to answer, as some pairs seem to last forever, getting grubbier and grubbier - yes, I know that they are technically washable, but I never like to put filthy muddy gloves in the washing machine: I would not want them contaminating my clothes, and I don't run the washing machine for just one or two items, that would be wasteful! So I wash the gloves by running them under the outside tap while I am wearing them, doing the “washing my hands” mime as I do so, and although this gets off the worst of the mud, it doesn't bring them up nice and clean again: but it does at least get them clean enough to continue wearing.

Eventually, though, as with all gloves, they wear through at the finger tips, and once they get holes there, they have to be thrown away as there is not much in life as annoying as having one permanently dirty fingernail. (*laughs*)

Am I the only person who is reluctant to throw out damaged gloves? Do you have anything like this lot, lurking in your hall cupboard?

 

Why do I keep them? Why? Why?

Eventually I gave myself a stern talking-to, and threw out all the damaged ones. But I did keep a selection of the undamaged ones: there is a sort of logic to this, as I'm sure you would agree, because I might later wear out or damage the “other” one... if you see what I mean. But there really is no reason to keep the ones with holes in!! So out they go!!

As you can see, I usually wear out my left-hand gloves, because my right hand is holding the daisy grubber, and the left hand does all the pulling and scraping, so after a while, I end up with a bag of poor little orphans:

 

So sad.

And as a final note on the subject of gloves, I am still looking for a fellow female gardener (ie who wears the same size gloves as me) who wears out all her right-hand gloves, so we can come to some arrangement!