immune to it all
My dad used to be a joiner for the council. He once told us that he had been sent to a house, that was so much of a shit hole that the environmental health officer had made him and his mate wear a paper suit before going in, and it had to be incinerated afterwards.

Inside supposedly was both an eye opener and a stomach churner. Everywhere was covered in grease and dog hairs and smelt like a mixture of piss, shit and old chip fat.
In the fireplace was a large pot of stew/scraps/fuck-knows-what that had dried, crusted on food all over the sides. It seems they just added food to it every day to replace whatever they took out at mealtimes, and never bothered to wash it. My Dads mate swept his sawdust up on the last day, tipped it in and gave it a stir.

There were at least 5 kids, running around in vests and pants that were stained beyond anything a boilwash could salvage, and one of the parents told him "They never get ill, they are as strong as oxes, all of 'em".
Dad reckoned that it was due to the fact they had all been exposed to so many germs and diseases (some unkown to medical science at the time) from birth that they had become immune to all of them - common cold...pah, i had that ebola last week.

Reason i remember this so vividly is that i was told if i was ever naughty they would get the couple to adopt me....shudders
(turtles head is touching cloth poked a dwarf on the forehead at, Thu 22 Mar 2007, 19:29, Reply)