Why do you Yanks call it the “restroom?” What I have to do in there at my time of life is anything but restful - it’s bloody hard work, actually!
A little dirt is good for you.
Research says that exposure to nasty stuff builds a stronger immune system in kids.
In the same way, kids who grow up with animals are less likely to have allergies.
Mukade
I grew up with dogs and cats but haven’t lived with one since I moved out of my parents house 4 years ago. When I go back to their’s at christmas, where they still have a mental cocker spaniel, I spend most of time with a blocked nose and sneezing.
It seems I’ve developed a mild allergy by not being surrounded by animal hair all the time.
Just think how much worse it would be if they had a real one. 
Good, it’s always a polite thing to do when you are finished handling your cheap meat sausage.
A lot of blokes doing messy jobs have to wash their hands before they wash their hands, so to speak. If you are going back to a messy job, what is the point of washing your hands afterwards?
Yes, my sister had a real one when we were kids… nuts nuts nuts. How I longed for the mental variety. 
I had a cousin Daniel
And he owned a cocker spaniel.
If you poked it in the middle
It would lift its leg and piddle.
Chorus:
Have you ever seen
Have you ever seen
Have you ever seen
Such a funny thing before?
djm
I’d have to question that–I’ve worked for a large group of allergy/asthma specialists for almost 15 years and I’ve never heard that claim before.
Susan
Really? It seems to be received wisdom these days. The other factor in allergies is apparently being brought up in a house much cleaner (and more chemically clean) than our parents and grandparents.
Could you post a link to a credible source for this? I’d like a clarification from Mukade - when you say kids who grow up with animals are less likely to have allergies, do you mean allergies to animals or allergies in general (e.g., pollen, etc.)?
Susan
any googlesearch for allergy and cleanliness turns up loads of research pointing out that overly hygenic environments increase allergies.
for example :
http://www.lpch.org/newsEvents/NewsReleases/cleanlinessHepatitisAsthma.html
which in fairness doesn’t point to the opposite (lesser hygiene avoids allergies) being true
I don’t have any quarrel with the “it’s possible to be too clean” notion. I only protect myself from shopping cart handles because of what I know is there. I prefer to clean them before using them if I can and, if the carts available appear particulary dirty, I have used my coat sleeve as a barrier.
It’s the more off-topic statement from Mukade about pets and allergies that has me baffled. Here’s a link to an information statement from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology about pets and allergies:
http://www.acaai.org/public/advice/pets.htm
Susan
so are we ready to move on to dairy goats & cheese making? 
… I suppose, but I much prefer the easy innuendo (not an Italian-American suppository, btw) that home made cheap meat sausages provides.
Shopping trolleys, coins, library books, banknotes…all a bit on the nasty side, if you think about them too much. Two things about using public toilets always strike me as being very wacky. First, why should a man wash his hands after having a piddle? His “piddling kit” is kept well-wrapped except for the necessary brief piddling procedure, so should be pretty clean (one hopes), and urine is germ-free (one hopes). It’s his grubby hands that carry all the dirt of the day, so surely he should wash them before piddling! Second, you fastidiously wash your hands, only to find that you’re then obliged to grab a door-handle to make your exit, a door-handle that’s presumably been grabbed by a thousand post-poo unwashed hands before you. Hands up all those who open the door using just a crooked little finger which one then wipes on one’s trousers!
I think your skin flora can take care of most brushes with unfriendly germs. As I understand it, colds and flu are often transmitted by fingers from infected surfaces to the mouth, nose or eyes. The viruses can live for hours outside the body and you only need to pick up a few.
If you’re aesthetically offended by these thoughts, just keep a packet of wet-wipes in your bag/car, but don’t be surprised if you get looks of pity whilst using them!
I’ve never noticed looks of pity while wiping off a shopping cart handle–I did have a woman ask if she could have one of my wet-wipes for her cart.
I’m not overly-concerned about germs–I handle money, purses, door handles, stair rails, etc., all without a thought. But I also don’t think I need to go out of my way to pick up some extra germs and if I can avoid a few of the nastier ones (at least to me) by wiping off a shopping cart handle, I will.
Susan
A balanced view. I have to confess to having a packet of wet-wipes in my car, wimp that I am.
I have read it several times over the past couple of years.
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/36/1728_55562
Mukade