WET TOILET WIPES BLOCK

This is for those of you who may not have read the Yediot Aharanoth article (03.05.2012) concerning the usage of wet toilet wipes. These are not the Huggies kind of wipes.

I started using these about a year or so ago. I used most of the various kinds on sale here, according to what was on a discount sale at the time, eg. Supersol, Lily, Fresh Ones, and Soft. They bore the following words “"נשטף באסלה". I checked this out with the phone number for Supersol on the packet and was told they could be thrown into the toilet.

Six months later we had the first blockage in our sewage system for 25 years and guess what the plumber found was the cause? In almost all the outside inspection pits in the ground was a collection of wet wipes that had not disintegrated as expected.  As you can imagine, it cost us a pretty penny to clean out all the sewage system.

And then a couple of months later I found in Yediot Aharanot the article complaining about these products mentioned above  which are causing serious trouble to municipal and local council sewage systems.

So you are hereby warned!

CORRECTION RE: SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNTS

My apologies for having omitted information in the last ESRA MAGAZINE regarding the conditions for receiving the senior citizen discount on municipal taxes (arnona). This needs to be checked with your local authority as they are allowing this deduction only to people with a certain limited total income. The discount also depends on the size of the property and the number of people living in it. Furthermore, according to Tel Aviv municipality, it is only for those receiving an Israeli pension from Bituach Leumi.  

HINTS

Breaking pasta: If you need to break up pasta before boiling, then put a quantity in a plastic bag and break. I do the same if I need broken biscuits or nuts for any recipe - I crush them with the bottom of a flat glass or cup - much simpler and no mess of broken pieces around.

Leaves and stalks: Worthwhile collecting the light green leaves and stalks from cauliflower and broccoli. I wash, cut and freeze them for use in making soups.

I also freeze the green leaves from the "American" celery, and also dill and parsley including the stalks. Fresh parsley can be kept fresh for at least 2 – 3 weeks if you put it unwashed, in a closed glass jar in the refrigerator. Unfortunately this does not work too well with dill.

TELEPHARMA

This is a telephone and internet pharmaceutical shopping center for senior citizens and others at compatible prices where your orders are delivered to your home address. In the Telepharma brochure I found that amongst the many different medical accessories advertised were also many different alternative food additives such as Omega 3 and various vitamins etc.  I checked out those that I use and found that the prices for some were quite a lot cheaper than at pharmacies such as Superpharm and my local pharmacy, and even cheaper than at my local Teva shop.

You can order by phone, and orders above NIS 220 are delivered free.  Otherwise, home delivery costs approximately NIS 25.

You can ask for a brochure to be sent to you:  www.telepharma.co.il

Tel: 1 800 61 62 63.