Rant Rant Rant: Fingernails!

Fingernails are lovely things. Most of the time. You can paint them, scratch itches with them, turn the page with them, and use them to get difficult crumbs out of your keyboard. Eventually, unless you are Howard Hughes, you will need to cut your nails. You may hire someone to take care of your feet, such as the lovely Bastien Gonzalez (we love him because he once took on the almighty challenge of the feet of the father of ravaj). Fingernails are much easier, though, and usually you cut them yourselves. Or clip them.

Here comes the rant:  since when has it become the custom to clip one's nails in public? It's not that the act itself is vile, but rather that the clippings are allowed to lie where they fall. For example, just this week I saw a woman across the aisle on the plane, this morning it was the woman next to me on the Tube, and  the other day there was a woman on the top deck of the bus; all of them tending to their nails with no concern for their debris. It was utterly disgusting.

When I was young, Rabbi Hugo Gryn z"l told me that he would collect his nail-clippings and burn them, because his grandmother had told him that all the rubbish undisposed during his life would be waiting for him after death. I don't know about that, but Google did give me a couple of suggestions for the reuse of fingernail clippings:

1. they are compostable (as long as you remove the polish), since they are rich in protein.
2. if you cannot afford a Brillo pad (steel wool), put them in the foot of an old pair of tights and tie off the end. Voila - an inexpensive pot scrubber.
3. send them to Tim Hawkinson, a man who makes sculptures out of them

Ultimately, whatever you do with them, for goodness sake please do it at home. Thank you.

bastien gonzalez

who is bastien gonzalez?
the other day, i found an article by lynn barber in the observer all about an amazing pedicure that she had from a chap called bastien gonzalez. he is known as a celebrity podiatrist, and has developed his own philosophy about feet:

"My old NHS chiropodist always told me the secret of good feet was to wear sensible shoes, preferably Birkenstocks. But of course Bastien is French and horrified by that idea. 'You can't say to a woman you mustn't wear high heels because she will hate you! Pointy shoes and high heels are part of her life! Eating is bad for your teeth but you have to eat, no? If you want to wear high heels that's fine, but you have to be careful of your feet, keeping the mobility of the toes, working on the elasticity of the skin and replumping the fatty cushions. It is cure, cure, because if you don't take care of your feet, you destroy them.'" (read the rest of her article here)

apart from the fact that i love the pic, which is from the reverence de bastien universe, why would i blog this? well, it just so happens that my sister met him a few years ago at her gym. they got to talking, and he mentioned that he was a bit bored with his current feet. n. said that she had a great challenge for him - the feet of our father! ahf's feet had always been a source of fear and loathing in our family, particularly his toenails. even now i clench as i recall them. nu - bastien accepted the challenge, and i have to say that the man is a miracle worker! what he did for our father's feet was unbelievable. he made them human again!! we shall always be grateful to bastien.