Monday 27 July 2020

Monday

Early morning.   Just popped on to read my e mails and to say that we have had at least three hours of good, steady rain - so good for the garden and it also means I don't need to water the pots today.   I'll be back later.

It is now early evening and I have a confession to make.   I really am ashamed and also I feel stupid but I shall face up to things and tell you.   I am fanatically clean and tidy - I can't bear things to be otherwise.   Usually I have a cleaning lady but since Lockdown she hasn't been coming and I have been keeping things going myself.   After all, there is only me here to make things dirty and I can space out my cleaning jobs so that I clean and hoover the floors and carpets one day, wipe and/or polish all surfaces another day, change the bed and wash the towels and bed linen another day, clean the kitchen another day and so on.   And it has worked very well - and done me no harm at all.   It makes me tired but that is all to the good.

But there is one job I just have not done.   I will tell you why.   I am rather afraid of gas.   I have never before had anything to do with it.  Previously I have cooked and had central heating via a Rayburn, electric under floor, hobs and oven,
and for the last twenty seven years an Aga.  (I miss it every day).   Now I have gas central heating, an electric oven and an electric fire and a gas hob.   Now for a moment let us concentrate on that hob.

I don't use it all that much.   If I am not using my slow cooker, my Remoska or my Microwave I tend to cook in my electric oven.    But I quite often brown something in a pan on the hob  - bacon, sausages etc. - and of course they spatter fat.   When that happens I wipe the top of the hob and clean it as best I can but I am a bit scared of the actual burners themselves and I get annoyed because they look so dirty.   It scares me because they are so loose and when touched they tend to wobble about and rattle.

This morning I had had enough.   I looked at them and they really looked such a mess.   Then, when I tried to light one (by just pushing down the button of course) it wouldn't light.   The last straw.   So I googled 'cleaning gas burners on a gas hob' only to find dear readers that that horrible wobbly, rattly top bit comes off for cleaning!   Result - I filled the bowl with very hot water, got out all my cleaning stuff and my rubber gloves and gave every single part a good scour.   Result - a sparkling hob - and when I press a button on any of the four burners they spring into life with alacrity!   My only excuse is that I never got over being scared of the Bunsen burner in Chemistry at school.



17 comments:

Derek Faulkner said...

As you know, we had a few hours rain on Saturday but it was followed on Sunday by the usual sun and wind combination that quickly evaporated it. By the end of the week we could be seeing temperatures in the low 30's and so our gardens will quickly suffer again. The water in our ditches on the reserve now looks like thick pea soup and it stinks badly, all due to little oxygen left in the water because of the drought.

Simone said...

We had a good downpour today. It was really windy too and very unseasonable. It seems that the temperatures are due to soar in the UK by the end of the week. I prefer the cooler weather to hot and humid! Hope you have a nice evening. The sun is just coming out here now - early evening.

JayCee said...

I have always cooked on a gas hob so have got used to taking the rings apart for cleaning. Mine still get marked though from burnt spills which no end of scouring seems to shift.
I expect yours are now sparkling clean!

Rosie said...

I know exactly what you mean about school and bunsen burners!!

the veg artist said...

The ring you tried probably didn't light because in cleaning the hob top, you might have knocked the top parts off centre, that's all. If you look underneath (two bits come off on each of mine) you'll see gaps to fit around the ignition parts. After I've cleaned my hob I always light all four just to make sure they are on straight and ready for use. Like JayCee, mine never come completely clean after a few years of use!

Joanne Noragon said...

And I had to learn not to be afraid of my electric stove, four or five years ago. I've done some googling to take them apart, too. Never too old to learn, are we.

Cro Magnon said...

We have always had the same; gas hob and electric oven. I wouldn't have it any other way. I have a wire brush for those 'once a year' ring cleaning days.

Librarian said...

We had plenty of rain on Sunday - very welcome, even though it meant we were completely soaked on our hike in the woods.
As for being afraid of gas, I am the same; I am always extremely cautious around gas ovens, stoves and so on. But when my sister and I are staying at "our" cottage in Ripon, we have no choice but to use the gas hob there. After so many years staying there regularly, I have gotten sort of used to it, and when it comes to cleaning it, I knew from the start that those wobbly bits can be taken off; probably because I saw my grandma doing that in her kitchen when I was little.

thelma said...

Glad you have got 'the hob' cleaned. How cooking has changed, when I was a child apart from the cooker in the scullery room, we had a big black range in the kitchen as well for cooking. Then came natural gas when newly married. I still prefer gas to electricity, though always fancied an Aga, till my daughter got one and it played up leaving the house cold in winter.

Traveller said...

I too always had electric oven and gas hob but in the last kitchen renovation replaced the old gas with induction. Wouldn’t have anything else, super fast, wonderful control at very low temp and a flat wipe clean surface. Water boils faster in the hob than it does on in an electric kettle.

Jennyff said...

Just shows we are never too old to learn. Is there any of that rain to spare, we have had 10 drops in 3 weeks and are now on a yellow warning for temperatures in the 40s.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone. Don't feel quite so stupid having read all your comments.

Christine Hancock said...

I've always had a gas cooker, we now have a huge double oven range cooker and I had to search the internet for one with top and ovens gas. Well done you on the cleaning, we have upstairs days and downstairs days and have no cleaning days if we don't feel like it!

Rachel Phillips said...

We is so much easier than I.

Yellow Shoes said...

Loved this post! So honest and a really human error. I halve a gas range, all the top pieces come off and go in the dishwasher and I wipe the black shiny enamel top with stainless steel wool. Result- sparkling and no elbow grease involved. x

Rambler said...

It took me a while to realise that those burners could be removed when I first had a gas hob, so don't worry - you're not alone. I have a ceramic hob now - much easier to clean.
I'm glad you mentioned your Remoska as it reminded me to tell you how much I'm enjoying mine. I bought the big one, thinking of when the grandchildren would be here for meals, so I use foil dishes or Pyrex ones to contain the food I'm cooking. Of course, Covid has put paid to visits from anyone, sad to say, so goodness knows when I will need the full size of the Grand Remoska. But all things considered, I'm so pleased that I made that purchase. Thank you for describing the usefulness of yours.

Heather said...

Well done for researching cleaning gas hobs. New things are so scary and I am trying to get used to a new landline phone as well as a mobile phone. (Why can't they all be the same!) Lots of huffing and puffing and trying to remember how they work!