When I was about 12 years old my Mother (to say she was a keen gardener is the understatement of the century) sliced the top of her thumb off with a razor-sharp scythe (it was the early 1970s: if ‘Strimmers’ had been invented, we hadn’t seen them, and Mum was cutting some very long grass).
Of course, this would be very inconvenient for everyone, but Mum REALLY needed to use her hands. She was a massively busy lady. A piano teacher and accompanist, aforementioned fanatical gardener (who, along with Dad, made the family almost self-sufficient in many, if not most foods), a busy and creative cook (obsessed with ‘preserves’ of all types), and a mother to five children (and, as far as household tasks were concerned, a big man-sized husband/child), in a time long before ‘ready meals’ or Deliveroo. She simply didn’t have time not to use her hands fully.
She was advised by a butcher friend of the family to strap a lolly stick to the underside of the re-attached digit (back in the time before ‘elf and safety’, butchers often suffered this kind of injury). The lolly stick supported the wound, whilst protecting it from being touched, enabling the hand quite a bit of usage.
But how to stop the thumb getting wet in all that fruit and vegetable peeling (and other cooking activities that require this kind of usage)? Have you ever tried to peel potatoes wearing rubber gloves? It REALLY doesn’t work.
However, help was at hand down at our local chemists (drug store): they sold a discreet little plastic box which contained what looked like miniature condoms. The small cream-coloured rubber sleeve slipped over the thumb snugly, and kept it dry during such household chores. They were very useful, and Mum deployed them until her thumb reattached itself. For a while afterwards, I also used them if I ever cut my finger and needed to do a little chore involving water.
These items had a slightly obscene look, and were never openly out on display, having to be specially asked for at the counter in the shop. I wondered if there were customers who were prone to buying them by mistake! One can’t even begin to imagine the ramifications, both of confusion-or even injury-that might result.
I haven’t seen them for sale in a UK corner shop chemists for a long time, and if you want them you now would have to seek them online. Most people now have never heard of them (despite their being very useful) and if they see them, immediately start to giggle!