Is this my age showing through, or am I finding a fault in the general 
functions of a house?

Water taps. When filling a pan with water, I generally hold the pan in 
my right hand and have to cross under it with my left hand to the cold tap.

Cooker hob. Our auto ignite system has failed. I reckon that a steam 
clean will cure it, but while using matches, I strike them with the 
match in my right hand and then find that I have to transfer the match 
to my left hand to turn the gas on with my right hand and ignite the 
ring with my left hand.

There are other things I am pondering about as well.

What things do others have handed problems with?

Dave

My dog ate the lino in the kitchen. I'm in the process of fixing carpet 
tiles and swearing about all the twiddley bits


"Dave"  wrote in message 
news:cbmdnbFAmPisnjvVnZ2dnUVZ8q2dnZ2d@bt.com...
> Is this my age showing through, or am I finding a fault in the general 
> functions of a house?
>
> Water taps. When filling a pan with water, I generally hold the pan in my 
> right hand and ha

Dave said 

> Water taps. When filling a pan with water, I generally hold the pan in 
> my right hand and have to cross under it with my left hand to the cold tap.

I'm left handed, so dont expect sympathy for the few things you see as set
up left handed! You could either do it the other way round, (its not as
hard as you think, right handed people change gear with the left hand after
all. ) or buy a tap like mine that has the single control on the top and
swivels any place you want so isnt "handed" at all. They used to have it in
B&Q but recently dropped it but there are lots of others, they are a lot
better than tap heads on the sides.
Otherwise just change your habits. Holding pans with either hand is easy.
(but knives are like pens, most of us have to work with our best hand). It
just a matter of getting used to the idea of using both hands. If you
arrive at the sink and need to reach across, just change hands on the pan. 
-- 
Mike .......
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Mike ............ wrote:
> Dave said 
> 
> 
>>Water taps. When filling a pan with water, I generally hold the pan in 
>>my right hand and have to cross under it with my left hand to the cold tap.
> 
> 
> I'm left handed, so dont expect sympathy for the few things you see as set
> up left handed! You could either do it the other way round, (its not as
> hard as you think, right handed people change gear with the left hand after
> all. ) or buy a tap like mine that has the single control on the top and
> swivels any place you want so isnt "handed" at all. They used to have it in
> B&Q but recently dropped it but there are lots of others, they are a lot
> better than tap heads on the sides.
> Otherwise just change your habits. Holding pans with either hand is easy.
> (but knives are like pens, most of us have to work with our best hand). It
> just a matter of getting used to the idea of using both hands. If you
> arrive at the sink and need to reach across, just change hands on the pan. 

You are quite right in what you say, it is pure habit on my part, but 
when I noticed this the other day, it got me wondering why the right 
handed majority had not changed things over the years.

Dave

Dave said 

> it got me wondering why the right 
> handed majority had not changed things over the years.

generally things *are* designed right handed, if you have a tap on both
sides of a spout, which way round is "right"
-- 
Mike .......
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Mike ............ wrote:
> Dave said 
> 
> 
>>it got me wondering why the right 
>>handed majority had not changed things over the years.
> 
> 
> generally things *are* designed right handed, if you have a tap on both
> sides of a spout, which way round is "right"

By convention, the hot water tap is usually on the left and the cold on 
the right.

Imagine that you are right handed, You pick up a pan in order to fill it 
with clean water. The pan is in your right hand and the cold water tap 
is on the wrong side to easily reach it.

You have hard boiled some eggs for slicing and the pan has just been 
lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and 
then remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you can 
shell and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go under the 
pan to turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning yourself.

Hot water plays no part in cooking in this house.

Dave

Dave said 

> By convention, the hot water tap is usually on the left and the cold on 
> the right.

the bathroom here has the hots on the right, I just looked, does that mean
my house is left handed?
 
> Imagine that you are right handed, You pick up a pan in order to fill it 
> with clean water. The pan is in your right hand and the cold water tap 
> is on the wrong side to easily reach it.

hold it in the other hand? You can do it Dave!
 
> You have hard boiled some eggs for slicing and the pan has just been 
> lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and 
> then remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you can 
> shell and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go under the 
> pan to turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning yourself.

Better to put the pan in the sink and then run the water.
Of course the safe thing would therefore be to get a mixer tap like the one
I have, otherwise you would be opening yourself to legal action by a left
handed guest who had a boiled egg incident :-)
 
> Hot water plays no part in cooking in this house.

It can be as we used to heat with an instant heater fed from the cold main,
so you can use it for cooking if you want to. (we had no water tank other
than a cold one feeding the bathroom with cold, I assume avoiding any risk
of syphoning back "dirty" water). If your kitchen water comes from a hot
tank, fit the type of mixer tap that has two nozzles rather than an actual
mixed flow. I'm Mr DIY at the moment :-)
-- 
Mike .......
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Remove clothing to email

"Dave"  ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:z5-dnVQG9JEDKSPVnZ2dnUVZ8tjinZ2d@bt.com...

> By convention, the hot water tap is usually on the left and the cold on 
> the right.
>
> Imagine that you are right handed, You pick up a pan in order to fill it 
> with clean water. The pan is in your right hand and the cold water tap is 
> on the wrong side to easily reach it.
>
> You have hard boiled some eggs for slicing and the pan has just been 
> lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and then 
> remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you can shell 
> and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go under the pan to 
> turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning yourself.
>
> Hot water plays no part in cooking in this house.
>
> Dave

Emmm, Dave, why can you not hold a pan with your left hand?  If you are 
beating something in the pan don't you hold the pan with your left and beat 
with your right?
I can hold a pan or most pans with my left and it is 35% crippled.  I really 
do think your best answer is to get a dingle control valve anyway.  You can 
probably get one for less than £50, use a wide panel under to cover the 
unused holes and half the stress of your life will leave you instantly.

Dave wrote:
> lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and 
> then remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you can 
> shell and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go under the 
> pan to turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning yourself.
> 
> 
I can't imagine putting my left hand _under_ rather than _over_ the pan, 
in order to reach the tap.

Giusi wrote:

> "Dave"  ha scritto nel messaggio 
> news:z5-dnVQG9JEDKSPVnZ2dnUVZ8tjinZ2d@bt.com...
> 
> 
>>By convention, the hot water tap is usually on the left and the cold on 
>>the right.
>>
>>Imagine that you are right handed, You pick up a pan in order to fill it 
>>with clean water. The pan is in your right hand and the cold water tap is 
>>on the wrong side to easily reach it.
>>
>>You have hard boiled some eggs for slicing and the pan has just been 
>>lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and then 
>>remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you can shell 
>>and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go under the pan to 
>>turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning yourself.
>>
>>Hot water plays no part in cooking in this house.
>>
>>Dave
> 
> 
> Emmm, Dave, why can you not hold a pan with your left hand?  If you are 
> beating something in the pan don't you hold the pan with your left and beat 
> with your right?

Yes, I do do that  :-)

> I can hold a pan or most pans with my left and it is 35% crippled.

My reason for not doing as you do is that I fall into my own trap every 
time I go into the kitchen  :-(

This problem only came into my mind when the electric ignition failed on 
the gas hob. Being right handed, I would strike a match to light the gas 
and then find I had to put the match in my left hand to reach for the 
gas control.

I think that one of the 4 switches that operate when you press down the 
gas control has stuck down and causes the igniter to constantly click 
away. I will get my steam cleaner out and try and free the switch up 
when I get more time.

This falls under the heading of teacher tells pupil 'must try harder'  :-)

Dave

S Viemeister wrote:

> Dave wrote:
> 
>> lifted off the hob for draining. Using the pan lid, you drain it and 
>> then remove the lid in order to fill the pan with cold water so you 
>> can shell and slice the eggs. Once again, the left hand has to go 
>> under the pan to turn on the cold water tap, with a risk of burning 
>> yourself.
>>
>>
> I can't imagine putting my left hand _under_ rather than _over_ the pan, 
> in order to reach the tap.

It's a combination of bad design and me not thinking. Mixer tap with 
control valves close to the body and the long swan neck and it usually 
being over the right hand basin means that, without thinking, I once 
again fall into my own made trap. Funny enough, I was totally 
ambidextrous in my engineering days  :-)
But, obviously not in the kitchen.  :-(

Kitchens and me were strangers until a few years ago. I worked long 
hours, most times 7 days a week, though it was always my ambition to get 
to work in the kitchen. I subscribed to the Good Food magazine for 
several years and I am just about to scan the pages and put it onto CD 
or DVD and get rid of the paper work. So as you can see, I am a novice 
and eager to learn anything about cooking and the kitchen.

Dave