Because I’m careless and don’t always concentrate on what I’m doing, I often think that I should be garbed like a toddler at mealtimes and have a giant bib round my neck. I also think that inanimate objects conspire against me – how else can I account for tomato soup stains on the back of my t-shirt? I could have been wearing it back-to-front (it does happen – but not with this particular t-shirt because of its design.)
The reason I’m thinking of this is partly because I was ironing the soupy shirt the other day (stain still glaringly obviously still there) and partly because I was looking at ‘Home Hints’, a small booklet written by Ruth Drew (who I always think of as ‘Dear Ruth’) published posthumously by her friends. It fell open at a chapter ‘Hints on removing stains’. It had hints on removing coffee and tea stains, dandelion stains, ink stains on wood, ironmould spots, lipstick stains on carpets and tar stains. An unusual selection, but maybe she had planned to add more, tomato soup stains for example.
I can’t be the only one who would benefit from hints on removing tea of coffee stains on clothes – but Ruth is concerned with them on blankets! Coffee in bed? Should you have them anywhere, raid the bathroom cabinet for some glycerine – yes, I know, I guess that would also be difficult for many people to lay their hands on. Moving on – dandelion stains… why dandelions? Grass stains maybe, but a dandelion stain – which Ruth describes as ‘a problem child’? Should you ever come in too close contact with dandelions, methylated spirits will do the trick. Ink stains on wood – not many of us have ink-pens these days (apart from the Poet Macaque) but when Ruth was writing in the 1950’s ink stains were probably very common. She devotes nearly two pages on how to deal with them, so I will return to them another time.
Another mysterious difficulty is ironmould spots – I think it may mean rust, or a type of rust, but in searching for a definition, I came across Ironmould Lane in Bristol. However difficult the stains might be, cream of tartar will do the trick. Tar stains are associated with living by the coast – well, I live right by the coast, and it’s not something I’ve come across, but if I do I will dash to the chemist and purchase some eucalyptus oil as Ruth tells me it “will usually ease them off, and you can finish off the job with carpet shampoo applied with a cellulose sponge.” Maybe the chemist will have a cellulose sponge for me.
So “Lipstick stains on carpets”… honestly, the mind boggles! However, it was seventy odd years ago when Ruth was offering advice on such things:
I wonder why it is that, when someone drops a lipstick on the carpet, someone else immediately steps on it, leaving you with a really awkward situation to deal with. After the worst of the mess has been scraped up, what happens next depends a good deal on the type of lipstick.If it was a very greasy lipstick it will probably take dry cleaning spirit, using a round-and-round rub with a clean, soft cloth wetted with spirit. If the lipstick was not the greasy type, you can often get rid of the stain by simple shampooing. To do this,, damp the carpet pile and work up a lather with soapless detergent foam, and then wipe this off with a cloth wrung out in clear water. The only snag is that you are left with a splendidly clean patch of carpet, which looks very conspicuous for a few days; but perhaps this will act as a reminder when spring cleaning looms near!
Thank goodness we have modern carpet cleaners, and thank goodness people don’t tend to drop lipsticks everywhere!
Lois Elsden 