Surface Detail might be my favorite book in the Culture series, although I havenât completed the entire bibliography. It felt like it had a much stronger conceit than a lot of other Culture novels.
I would note the plague ship seems like no fun, but the other cruise ship that canât find a port, that sounds like they got a 15 day cruise for the price of a couple of days (and probably will be refunded anyhow) :-p
I must admit, very little triggers me more than listening to people talk about how they clean their apartments. The idea that someone doesnât own a mop after living in an apartment for six months? No thanks!
Of course, Iâve also listened to other podcasters who are super germophobic, and all I think is âwhy all the stress? Nobody needs to be that clean.â
So I guess itâs a sliding scale. Anyone less clean than you is ick, and anyone more clean than you has OCD.
I know itâs incredibly elitist and privileged of me, but one of the best decisions I made when I got my own place was to have cleaners come every two weeks.
I donât have to worry about cleaning myself and they do a better job than I ever would have anyway.
I am in the process of doing a massive spring cleaning, so far in a total of 2 days and 10 hours the first floor is pretty much done, the second floor will be tackled in the morning.
Iâve tried it before and couldnât work it. I feel uncomfortable letting strangers touch all my stuff unattended so it was a pain to flex time when I could be home and theyâd always end up putting stuff back in the wrong place.
I totally get that. I felt weird at first, but my cleaners were highly recommended to me by a friend I trusted, so once I got over the idea that these people would be in my house when I wasnât home, the benefits were great.
Had to chip in my 2¢ as Iâm listening to the show - as far as cleaning mirrors, I gave up on paper towel/windex combo long ago; I have NEVER been able to get them streak-free. I have a method I now swear by - newspaper + white vinegar + a bit of water (liquids on the newspaper as your âpaper towelâ). This works legitimately well, in my experience, much better than window cleaner plus no weird fuzzy fibers on the mirror. Got the tip off my grandma, she was was magic at this type of thing
Honestly, I just use the hotel method - clean normally, then give it a polish with a microfibre cloth. A cheap windshield cleaner stick(basically, microfibre + a flat pad on a stick) does wonders, and takes a lot of the work out of it.
One quick light wipe with a dry cloth or brush with a clean soft-brush to get rid of any dust or other dry debris, hit it with a good spray of your preferred cleaner(Hotels use commercial products, I use a mix of Water, dishsoap, and isopropyl alcohol) till itâs all over, clean with your wet-cloth. If Iâm in a hurry, glass cleaning wipes instead of the spray and wipe. Once youâve done that, and itâs dry, thatâs when it hit it with the microfibre to get rid of any remaining streaks.
For outdoor windows, I use a window-mop instead of a wet-cloth, and swap the microfibre towel for a good soft squeegee. Car windows, Iâll generally just spray on, let it soak a few seconds, then squeegee off, and only give it a scrub on stubborn grime, like dried bird shit, or worse, bat shit.
