In Praise of Olive Oil

Popeye had it right – he loved Olive Oyl

I have the highest praise for Olive Oil – good for salads and stuff, but my respect for the green slippery liquid is the magice it performs on my fingers.

When I am building there are many cements and mortars which have lime in them – there are other corrosive compounds I am sure, but it is lime which attacks my hands and splits open the skin on fingertips. Once the lime has got hold it eats the flesh as aggressively as a pyranha. I tried everything, quaint Norwegian fishermen’s salves, stuff from chemist costing an arm and a leg, nothing worked, my hands looked like something from Friday the 13th – but a French mason said ” Olive Oil “he said it in French of course and he had his mouth full at the time – but I tried it and it works.

Now I massage my hands and fingers with olive oil – it does not have to be super virgin (can’t see the point of virgins anyway) – voila – no split fingers, and if I get some skin eaten by lime, it mends quickly.

Luckily we use a lot in the house, it is in all the meals, just I have it on mt hands as well