Death of Bugs

D’you know it’s not fair?

Here we are, in the Dog Days of summer and I am covered in insect bites and smeared with Anthisan to stop the itching. I have managed to get through the entire summer without the merest hint of an insect bite and now I seem to be the main course for at least one of the little blighters.

Somewhere in The Tower there is a mosquito (or similar) snuggled away in a dark corner, lying on its back clutching its belly and snoring contentedly. It must be the size of a small dog by now the amount of times it’s sunk its bloody fangs into me.

Well not for much longer, matey. Ho No.

On my way home tonight I am going to buy the biggest and most toxic can of Raid I can find, and I am going to empty it into the stairwell, bed and computer rooms. There will be no hiding from my vengeance.

It occurs to me that the damned insect must be wearing sneakers, because it must be too large to fly now, gorged as it is on my blood, yet I never hear it coming.

I must get a photo if at all possible…

Death of Bugs

D’you know it’s not fair?

Here we are, in the Dog Days of summer and I am covered in insect bites and smeared with Anthisan to stop the itching. I have managed to get through the entire summer without the merest hint of an insect bite and now I seem to be the main course for at least one of the little blighters.

Somewhere in The Tower there is a mosquito (or similar) snuggled away in a dark corner, lying on its back clutching its belly and snoring contentedly. It must be the size of a small dog by now the amount of times it’s sunk its bloody fangs into me.

Well not for much longer, matey. Ho No.

On my way home tonight I am going to buy the biggest and most toxic can of Raid I can find, and I am going to empty it into the stairwell, bed and computer rooms. There will be no hiding from my vengeance.

It occurs to me that the damned insect must be wearing sneakers, because it must be too large to fly now, gorged as it is on my blood, yet I never hear it coming.

I must get a photo if at all possible…

Lunacy

I woke up this morning at just after four to be surprised by just how bright the full moon was. I think it might actually have been the light that woke me up. Or my bladder; one or the other. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was very cool in that hour before dawn. I do not recall seeing the moon that big or that bright for many a year. Easily bright enough to read by, it was not unlike sunlight except that the colour was washed out of everything to maintain that monochrome feel of night.

I know that the moon is in close at the moment and that we are expecting some of the highest spring tides for a generation. Just what I need when I am going to the coast next week (hopefully). Still, no sign of accompanying storms just clear skies with a return of the warm weather.

But I must remember to close the curtains if I am going to get any sleep at all!

Lunacy

I woke up this morning at just after four to be surprised by just how bright the full moon was. I think it might actually have been the light that woke me up. Or my bladder; one or the other. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was very cool in that hour before dawn. I do not recall seeing the moon that big or that bright for many a year. Easily bright enough to read by, it was not unlike sunlight except that the colour was washed out of everything to maintain that monochrome feel of night.

I know that the moon is in close at the moment and that we are expecting some of the highest spring tides for a generation. Just what I need when I am going to the coast next week (hopefully). Still, no sign of accompanying storms just clear skies with a return of the warm weather.

But I must remember to close the curtains if I am going to get any sleep at all!

It went wrong...

When you decide to do something, you should just do it.

It was in that positive frame of mind that I strode out at lunchtime with a view to purchasing a CD in the Virgin Megastore¹ on Victoria Street. I know that the CD I am after is not available in the small HMV in Victoria Station, so off in the opposite direction. The Victoria area of London is poorly served in these matters.

So off I trotted.

It rapidly becomes apparent that whatever else is happening in Victoria Street², Virgin are having no part in it. The mini-Megastore has gone. There is another clothes shop there now. I stood there appropriately stunned for a few minutes and then made my way back. I wandered in to Books Etc with a view to indulging in some consolation retail therapy involving the written word. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy – at least not at full price in hardback; there are a couple of titles out there that may make the caddyman booklist when, in due course, they arrive in papperbok, but not before.

Sadly, I mooched back onto the street and round the corner to buy a sandwich for lunch in M&S. Happily I had a fiver in my pocket. It seems that I had left my wallet in my rucksack at the office. Even if everything else had gone to plan, there could have been no CD or even a book. Not without the mighty plastic, which was snoozing back at work, anyway.

So, the advice is: When you decide to do something, make sure you have the wherewithal to do it. Then do something else instead.

Pah. Didn’t want a CD or a book anyway. /petulance.


¹A misnomer if ever there was one: it was neither virginal nor mega, but what has a brand name ever had to do with truthful marketing?

²Something odd involving spotlights, balloon sculptures and a sound stage in Cardinal Place and a live Jazz Trio gamely trying to face down the PA system in M&S, which was stubbornly playing Texas’ greatest hits rather loudly.

It went wrong...

When you decide to do something, you should just do it.

It was in that positive frame of mind that I strode out at lunchtime with a view to purchasing a CD in the Virgin Megastore¹ on Victoria Street. I know that the CD I am after is not available in the small HMV in Victoria Station, so off in the opposite direction. The Victoria area of London is poorly served in these matters.

So off I trotted.

It rapidly becomes apparent that whatever else is happening in Victoria Street², Virgin are having no part in it. The mini-Megastore has gone. There is another clothes shop there now. I stood there appropriately stunned for a few minutes and then made my way back. I wandered in to Books Etc with a view to indulging in some consolation retail therapy involving the written word. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy – at least not at full price in hardback; there are a couple of titles out there that may make the caddyman booklist when, in due course, they arrive in papperbok, but not before.

Sadly, I mooched back onto the street and round the corner to buy a sandwich for lunch in M&S. Happily I had a fiver in my pocket. It seems that I had left my wallet in my rucksack at the office. Even if everything else had gone to plan, there could have been no CD or even a book. Not without the mighty plastic, which was snoozing back at work, anyway.

So, the advice is: When you decide to do something, make sure you have the wherewithal to do it. Then do something else instead.

Pah. Didn’t want a CD or a book anyway. /petulance.


¹A misnomer if ever there was one: it was neither virginal nor mega, but what has a brand name ever had to do with truthful marketing?

²Something odd involving spotlights, balloon sculptures and a sound stage in Cardinal Place and a live Jazz Trio gamely trying to face down the PA system in M&S, which was stubbornly playing Texas’ greatest hits rather loudly.