What I am writing about is little waterproofed tabs, in packets, that we use to cover inadvertent damage to our skin, some call them Band Aids or plasters. You know sort of thing, it is kept in a box with a red cross on it, out of harm’s way, and when you cut yourself, you can’t remember where the box is, and when you ultimately find it, you can’t get the plaster out of its wrapping, any more than you can get crisps out of the bag, or your dinner out of a plastic box. Recently, I was speared accidentally with a very sharp knife and by the time I managed to get the plaster out of its wrapping, the kitchen was like an abattoir with blood everywhere.
Small children are adventurous and pebble dashing of the knees is a common occurrence, young people have run-ins with electrical appliances and loose chunks of their bodies with experimentation, I have the scars to prove it. Very old people are held together with all sorts of medications, including aspirin to stop them going gaga, that has the disadvantage of thinning one’s blood to a point where the slightest scratch can produce a fountain of the red stuff that keeps us going. So it is essential that the plaster trade takes on board the fact that their wrappings are just that bit too unhygienic, as they ultimately cause one to have blood drying everywhere.
The strange thing is that the medical profession found this out years ago and provides their operatives with roles of plaster which they can cut to any shape with a pair of scissors, give a light tug, and hey presto, the paper covering is pulled away, and they have whacked on another plaster with no effort and lightning speed. Clearly the manufacturers are doing nicely when they supply a small cardboard box, half empty, containing a variety of plasters in individual packages that have a secret code for opening, each one of those plasters costs a bomb, while I suspect the roll comes much cheaper. We are talking about an emergency, where some people can panic with the sight of blood, so surely it is in everyone’s interest to make the amateur carry out the task more easily, if not just as easily as a professional.