Carrots    Photo by Nick Saltmarsh  www.flickr.com

I am opening my column today with a comment. I fail to understand why it is considered good business to advertise something without a price.

This is the situation with many goods on sale advertised at the various food and drug chain stores - in particular those 1 + 1 where you have no idea of what the item costs. The brochures and full-page adverts that come with your morning newspapers also advertise properties for sale with no prices, or very rarely. In fact, often it is almost impossible to understand where these properties are situated. Individuals' having flats for sale or rent hardly ever state the price in the newspaper, nor do the real estate agents. This makes me wonder how they do business, apart from answering the phone.

And now this phenomenon seems to have caught up on the internet with our local  English Yahoo-list groups. So what I am questioning is - what is the phobia about stating a price for the goods you are advertising? Somewhere along the line, whether over the phone or in the store, the price is going to have to be given.

House committee insurance

This will be of interest to those of you who live in an apartment building/condominium (beit me'shutaf).

The Yediot Achronot newspaper on January 30, 2007 published a letter from a reader about a recent judgment in a case where a flat-owner, who slipped on the wet stairs which had just been cleaned and suffered bodily damage, made a claim against the house committee (vaad habeit).

The plaintiff complained that the House Committee had not taken the necessary steps to prevent the accident. The judge gave a judgment of damages of NIS 133,000 against the House Committee. The reader stated that the house committee of his building, on reading this judgment, gave in their notice en bloc to the householders. In most cases this committee is composed of one or more persons who carry out this task on a purely voluntary basis.

You should know that there exists the possibility of taking out Third Party Liability Insurance especially for apartment buildings. The cost per flat is minimal and I would suggest that this should be seriously investigated.

Reminder

This is to remind all of you that when you change your cell-phone number, tell your friends and relatives. So often, when unsuccessfully I try to ring an acquaintance, I eventually find that they have bought a new phone from a different cell-phone company.

Carrots 

I like to cook carrots in their skins, yes, without peeling them. That is provided that they are reasonably young and fresh. I either scrub them with a brush or with Sano, Scotch-Brite or other scrubbing pads (without soap). I find it saves me work and time. The simplest method is to take the scrubbing pad and move it around the carrot, not length wise.

"Sponja" made easier

There is something new on the market - a Microfilm floor cloth. And it really is fantastic. I hate washing floors; I will do anything but. You first have to sweep and only then start with the water and floor cloth and then wait for the floor to dry. But this Microfilm cloth seems to cut out two aspects. I find that the cloth actually picks up the dust and dirt; I do not need to sweep first and the floor dries almost before I have finished washing out the cloth. I found the cloth at ACE and it costs just NIS 14.99, with a guarantee for a year.

If you have hints or tidbits you would like to share with us, please send them to Naomi Ariel, Tidbits. Comments & Oddities, ESRA POB 3132, Herzliya 46104, or email: Naomi8@netvision.net.il