Fake Oral-B Toothbrush Heads!

As I'm typing this, I'm nursing a cut inside my lip. When I brushed my teeth my Oral B toothbrush pinched inside my mouth and made me bleed. It was painful. It's still painful!

That's never happened to me before so I googled "Oral B brush cut mouth" and realised the brush heads I bought from Ebay are counterfeit. 

The bristles were harder than usual. I've been using the one on the left for almost two months and none of the bristles have faded like they should with the genuine brushes. As you can see on the left, the plastic in the centre of the head has broken away. This causes the brush to loosen and wobble. On the right is a new counterfeit brush with the centre intact.

 Check out the gap. The head has come loose and will catch the inside of your mouth when you brush. This is going straight into the bin!

This is the front view of the brush. They came in packs of 8 under the "Precision Clean" model. Each brush head is individually packed and hot-glued onto a piece of card. 

The toothbrushes came from an Ebay listing which had the pictures as below. When I messaged the seller, I was told that they couldn't refund me because the 3 month period to cancel the transaction on Ebay expired. Its' a shame but hopefully through this post I can save others from making the same mistake.

Crocheting And A Hack For Sore Fingers

I've taken up crocheting as a new hobby. I learnt the basics as a kid but never made anything I could actually wear. There wasn't anyone around how could teach me beyond the very basics. Fast forward to now where any can learn about anything on Youtube. 

After watching video tutorials on how to make a granny blanket, I ordered a stack of cotton yarn, a set of knitting needles and a crochet hook. The knitting needles are for a scarf project for later, although I might have missed the boat on wearing it before it gets warm.

This is the beginning of my granny blanket for my sister. It's a mindless project which I find relaxing. I just love working on the blanket in silence as I get to think alot. 

I've learnt to check my row at every corner as I've had unravel half an hour's work twice when I realised I've missed stitches. So annoying when that happened but the OCD in me wanted to make sure the blanket was perfect. 

I've worked out a hack for sore fingers when crocheting, whether it's pressure from the hook (as I hold mine like I'm writing) or burns from the yarn. I cut off a leg of old pantyhose, roughly 20 cms long and knot the ends together. You want to loop to be big enough to comfortably wrap twice over your fingers as pictured. Voila, protective cushioning that takes less than 10 seconds to make!

Back To Scotland

I flew to Edinburgh for a friend's birthday party. Snow was blowing (not falling!) when I arrived and I couldn't wait to warm up in the room before hitting the town. After enduring the snow, rain and Edinburgh's famous steep hills for 24 hours, I walked to the castle before my train to Aviemore.

I was rained on. I was tired of lugging my backpack. It was heaven putting it down on the train. That trip was one of my most pleasant journeys because I had four seats to myself in first class. I watched it get snowier as we headed into the Highlands.

Unfortunately I didn't sleep well in Aviemore. I was on the couch and the wind was howling all night. The next morning the snow melted away. It was so windy the ski fields were closed so we visited the nearby village of Carrbridge. We did some hiking but the rain was too much for me. My umbrella broke and my boots leaked. 

The stream that runs through the famous bridge was gushing muddy rapids. We found refuge in a pub where there was a cosy fireplace and we watched the snow fall outside. 

The next day we did a tour of the Cairngorm Brewery. I learned a lot about beer making and tasted 10  of their beers. We even got to stick our heads into a giant vat to check out the yeast. 

However without the excitement of skiing, I missed home and couldn't wait to get on the plane back to London. Scotland is indeed a much different place. It's a little too quiet for me in winter time. If it weren't for the fireplaces, I would not know where else to find respite from the unforgiving weather.