Musings on handkerchiefs

Handkerchiefs -- or is it handkerchieves? -- are something that I have never used. That may partly explain why I don't know how to spell the word in the plural, so I shall just call them hankies from now on. My dad is the only person I can think of who always carried one and probably still does. I remember a few times when I was a little kid and was trapped in church with a runny nose. Dad would pass me his hanky, I would blow my nose heartily in it, and he would put it back into his pocket. The things fathers will do for their children obviously includes carrying their snot around for them. Nice.

For my whole adult life I have used paper tissues whenever I've had a runny nose or needed to quickly wipe my hands. I wonder how many tissues have gone into landfill purely on my account. Lots, I'm sure -- my nose is almost constantly wet, like a puppy, any time that the weather is cold outside and I'm moving between outside and inside. Temperature changes set it off every time! And most of the time it just needs a quick wipe and I'm good, but that's a whole tissue gone.

Now I'm thinking that it might be time to obtain a supply of cloth hankies and see how those work out for me. Some people think that it's disgusting to carry a used hanky around, and I totally agree with that if it's been used during the throes of a bad cold, but most of time there won't be very much actually going onto the cloth. Just grab a couple of clean ones every day, or more often if necessary, shove them in a handbag or pocket, and that should be it.

Now I just need to find somewhere that sells them. I know the Warehouse does, but they might not be the best quality. I want something soft, durable, and that washes well. Cotton or maybe linen. Actually I have no idea if linen would be soft or not. More research may be required!