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Tea Towels

Shock news from Camden where a launderette recently saved from being turned into a juice bar was completely gutted by a fire yesterday. Quote from employee Ms King; "The thing with launderettes you have to be so careful because of the tea towels. They can just set alight sometimes."

Whaa ?

http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/shock-as-launderette-saved-from-closure-is-hit-by-fire
Just found this story from 2018.

Tea towels 'spontaneously combust and cause restaurant fire'​

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-42988170
 
Just found the worlds largest tea towel aswell

2510_hospice_1000.jpg


RECORD BREAKER Children from third class at Gaeilscoil na Cruaiche, Westport, are pictured holding up with the specially commissioned tea towel by Poplar Linens Trading, measuring 15 metres x 10.5 metres, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest tea towel. Pic: Michael Mc Laughlin

https://www.mayonews.ie/news/28817-guinness-world-record-tea-towel-for-mayo-roscommon-hospice
 
Just found the worlds largest tea towel aswell

View attachment 40260

RECORD BREAKER Children from third class at Gaeilscoil na Cruaiche, Westport, are pictured holding up with the specially commissioned tea towel by Poplar Linens Trading, measuring 15 metres x 10.5 metres, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest tea towel. Pic: Michael Mc Laughlin

https://www.mayonews.ie/news/28817-guinness-world-record-tea-towel-for-mayo-roscommon-hospice
That's just about big enough to deal with all my tea mugs.
 
Just found this story from 2018.

Tea towels 'spontaneously combust and cause restaurant fire'​

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-42988170
Seems like they missed out the possible hazard of it being overpacked ~ hence the towels could have already been ignited, but not obvious when the towels were taken out and just thrown into a basket. Or, taking the towels out before the machine had a chance to click onto the cooling-down phase.
 
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I think tea towels cause more fires than we realise. How many people have turned on the wrong ring on the hob by mistake and caused a tea towel that was blamelessly lying there to start to smoulder?

Oh. Just me then.
 
I think tea towels cause more fires than we realise. How many people have turned on the wrong ring on the hob by mistake and caused a tea towel that was blamelessly lying there to start to smoulder?

Oh. Just me then.
This was in the plot for the Steptoe and Son episode 'Divided We Stand'. So you are not alone!
 
I think tea towels cause more fires than we realise. How many people have turned on the wrong ring on the hob by mistake and caused a tea towel that was blamelessly lying there to start to smoulder?
I thought Escargot and others used tea towels to put OUT fires.
This is all very confusing.
 
I've put out lots of grill pan fires with a damp tea towel. For years I thought that's what they were for.... but it's always your favourite that gets set fire to. Tea towel, that is, not grill pan. Having a favourite grill pan would just be weird.
 
I've put out lots of grill pan fires with a damp tea towel. For years I thought that's what they were for.... but it's always your favourite that gets set fire to. Tea towel, that is, not grill pan. Having a favourite grill pan would just be weird.
No, it wouldn't...
 
By Jove, you've got it! Spontaneous teaspoon combustion would explain a lot of the disappearances.
Spontaneous teaspoon combustion (STC) is quite common (apparently) amongst households that do not have tea-towels and dry their cutlery in the microwave.
 
We always have a three towel situation going on in my kitchen at home:

The one that's still there but should probably have been put in the washing machine by now.

The other one's that's new and fresh and can be safely used.

The fluffy one that clearly isn't a tea towel but we wash our hands so it's for that.
 
We always have a three towel situation going on in my kitchen at home:

The one that's still there but should probably have been put in the washing machine by now.

The other one's that's new and fresh and can be safely used.

The fluffy one that clearly isn't a tea towel but we wash our hands so it's for that.

The tea towel situation in this house is the one that the In-House GP is snatching out of my hands mid-dry because he's loading the washing machine and cannot wait for me to finish, thus forcing me upstairs tot he airing cupboard to source another one. Harumph.
 
The fluffy one that clearly isn't a tea towel but we wash our hands so it's for that.
We have loads of hand towels with big loops sewn on all round the place for hand drying after gardening, bike fixing etc.

Some are just for Techy to wipe oily messes off t'mokes. Those ones are stained black with what's known locally as bletch. :chuckle:
 
Shock news from Camden where a launderette recently saved from being turned into a juice bar was completely gutted by a fire yesterday. Quote from employee Ms King; "The thing with launderettes you have to be so careful because of the tea towels. They can just set alight sometimes."

Whaa ?

http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/shock-as-launderette-saved-from-closure-is-hit-by-fire
The Father in law used to work at a laundry years ago and is always saying how damp linen can catch fire. (Akin to a compost heap). He even says it about putting clothes to dry on radiators, although I've been doing that for years without them even once catching fire so........
 
The Father in law used to work at a laundry years ago and is always saying how damp linen can catch fire. (Akin to a compost heap). He even says it about putting clothes to dry on radiators, although I've been doing that for years without them even once catching fire so........
I dont think your average domestic water filled radiator can get hot enough to combust material
 
The tea towel situation in this house is the one that the In-House GP is snatching out of my hands mid-dry because he's loading the washing machine and cannot wait for me to finish, thus forcing me upstairs tot he airing cupboard to source another one. Harumph.
Just think of all the extra healthy exorcise he's giving you - and it's all free!
OIP.jpg
 
Any reason there is a thread about tea towels on a Fortean site??!! Very entertaining though.... Got to say that I and possibly thousands of other weak minded simpletons swap the word for an evening meal between tea AND dinner depending on their ability to drag any of the terms out of the back of their minds.... I think I prefer.... OH I DON'T KNOW!!
 
Any reason there is a thread about tea towels on a Fortean site??!! Very entertaining though.... Got to say that I and possibly thousands of other weak minded simpletons swap the word for an evening meal between tea AND dinner depending on their ability to drag any of the terms out of the back of their minds.... I think I prefer.... OH I DON'T KNOW!!
It was originally a digression on another thread that got calved off into it's own thread, there is also a thread about what meals are called and when they occur.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/meals-customs-scheduling-naming.68172/
 
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