Winkling out the hooks

I’ve written several – actually, probably many times about Ruth Drew the writer and broadcaster having been given her book, ‘The Happy Housewife’ by a very kind friend. I’ve now acquired a small booklet called ‘Home Hints’ by dear Ruth as I always think of her, published on January 1st 1961, just over three months after her untimely death. This is the moving introduction:

The death of Ruth Drew, on 20 September 1960, came as a great shock to those of us who had known and worked with her for so long. It came too, as a shock to her listeners – many of whom had come to look upon her as a friend.
Not very long before she died, Ruth asked for a number of her ‘Today’ scripts to be sent to her home so that she could edit them to be published in booklet form. She was, however, too ill to undertake the work and this booklet has been compiled by her friend and colleague, David Roe.
All these household hints were broadcast in ‘Today’ in the BBC Home Service, and, as you read them, many of you may seem to hear that familiar, strong voice which is so greatly missed.
Elizabeth Rowley, Editor ‘Today’.

Ruth’s character comes bouncing off the page in her writing, even when she’s giving instructions for an ordinary household task:

Tarnished Curtain Hooks
What a tiresome job it is, having to winkle out the hooks from the tapes before you can wash the curtains! But you will find that they g back much more easily if you clean them first. All you need to do is to put them in a jar, cover them with water, and then add enough household ammonia to make the solutions smell pretty pungent. After they have been soaking overnight, you can take them out, give them a thorough rinse and put them to dry in a warm oven, on a baking sheet.

Can you imagine any of us even thinking of doing more than rinse curtain hooks under the tap, even if we even considered cleaning them?! Actually, many curtain hooks are plastic these days, so even more unnecessary I’d have thought. And how many of us have any household ammonia in among our cleaning stuff, is it even legal to buy? Well, what do I know? I’ve just looked up household ammonia, and yes it’s available from most places you might buy cleaning agents! Wikipedia tells me:

Household ammonia is a marketed substance that consists of a dilute solution of ammonia in water. About 7% of the solution by weight is ammonia. It is used for cleaning. It can also be known as ammonium hydroxide, but it really exists in the form NH₃ + H₂O rather than NH₄⁺ + OH^–.