Flying Antado 2

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well this is the second day of the two day British summer. As I write this it's apparently due to end as suddenly as it began but for the moment Bridgend is balmy and I'm sweaty.

My mother has left for London and the moment her car left the street my wife had got the vacuum cleaner and feather duster out as she was ready work herself into a nervous breakdown in the pursuit of turning the house showhome ready (with of course myself and our teenage daughter as helpers). Now to explain, my wife, for all her considerable virtues, is the sort of person who would consider our home to be just this side of a rubbish tip even if an army of cleaners had gone through the house first.

So through blood sweat and screams eventually everything was finished. Showhome ready. Midday. For as I mentioned in my last post the reason for her panic was the second viewing of the house since we put it on the market. 6:30pm. She was going to be out that afternoon seeing some girlfriends so I was going to have to be ready when the estate agent knocked on the door.

1pm: Wife has left the house. I'm in the kitchen. I've just finished a chicken sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. I've hours before that estate agent knocks on the door. Everything is under control. You may remember what I said at the end of the last post. Things I felt were going to get dull.

Well...

I notice something crawling along the window ledge, then something else....then something else. Move towards the scene. Ants....and not just any ants...they fly.

Now you might also recall that yesterday by mowing down their constructed hill I'd unleashed squadrons of flying ants to the street (sorry again). Well it appears they were out for revenge for the devastation I'd caused.

And so it begins....

If this was America these ants would be flesh eating creatures and I would be battling to defend my family and humanity. But this was Britain and my job was to clear the ledge from crawlies before the estate agent arrived. More sitcom than scary.

Some would come in pairs

Apart from one respect they were pretty stupid. They didn't provide me with any trouble catching them. Flies they were not.

Some were quite big

Trouble was that I couldn't figure out where they came from. i thought I'd clear the ledge and then all of a sudden they'd return. Was there a crack in the wall or did they come up the plughole? Absolutely no idea.

Others were small

Before you ask why I didn't use Ant powder or spray don't forget that there was the house viewing to consider, Powder or spray wouldn't have looked good to potential buyers, So old fashioned kitchen roll it was.

Others looked quite scary

6:10pm : A knock on the door. It's the estate agent with the couple viewing the house. Twenty minutes early and with no prior phone call I'm not happy but try not to show it. Daughter and I leave the house to go and get some provisions and leave them to it.But not before getting rid of a few more of the flying mites

(As a quick aside this has put me off giving the estate agent our house key. That and a story a friend in Cardiff told us of her son in his boxers watching TV today when an estate agent just opens the door with a couple and again no prior phone call!)

We return ten minutes later just as the people viewing the house are leaving. You know it's a no and that's what it was. Apparently they saw another house which was more secluded and had better parking. So be it. Can't say I'm unhappy.

More ants were caught but as the day ends so do they. They seem to have gone.Hopefully Antado 3 is not on the cards.

I should stress that all the flying ants were killed in the making of this post.

Until the next time.