One of the things you expect when you move to a different climate, especially a more temperate one, is to be attacked by things that nature seems to have created specifically to annoy you. Mosquitoes, midges, gnats for example.
I remember having many conversations with my older children about nature's purpose for a wasp, other than to annoy you at picnics. We came to the conclusion that it must have a crucial part in the food chain, providing sustenance for other, probably bigger, creatures that under the Butterfly Effect form part of the intricate web that makes up life on earth.
Right now, if I was asked what living thing I'd like to go in to Room 101 I would vote for mosquitoes, or whatever it is that's been feeding on my wife and I, to go straight in, not to pass Go, and definitely not collecting £200 for their extinction. As with wasps, my virtual vacuum of knowledge of the biology of these creatures means that I don't know what good they do? On the negative side, as far as I'm concerned they are responsible for malaria and my discomfort, and that's enough to see them extinct. If they are doing good to the world they need to change their PR company as it's a mystery to me. Maybe they pollinate like bees or provide vital medicine for rare diseases, but I'm not convinced I'd swop either of those benefits for the sheer discomfort that the numerous bites or stings are causing us.
In a similar vein (literally) when you go to the well organised zoo in Sharjah, they go to great lengths to inform you of the various snakes, spiders and scorpions (not the East German rock band..) that lurk in the desert. Apparently the moment you set foot just a meter inside the sand dunes these creatures leap out at you and bite/sting you to an early grave. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, as a snake-wise friend who was with us re-assured me that they all run away (run? Slither, I meant) as soon as they sense your approach. Apart from the Spitting Cobra, who has no fear of you at all but just stands it's ground so that it can get some target practice.
There is then an information panel which tells you what to do in the event of a snake bite, although it also says that as there is only one hospital in the region with anti-venom so it's barely worth the effort of first aid really as you'd never get to help in time... Thanks..
Mosquito, this will annoy you to the extent you want to kill.... anything....
To counter this we have met numerous people who walk and mountain bike in the mountains, camp out there, run around barefoot, OK maybe that's an exaggeration, but none the less regularly visit the habitat of these animals and have never seen anything toxic let alone had to fend it off with a stick.
Still, makes us sound a bit more like Steve Irwin and less like Mary Portas..
2 comments:
The mosquitoes eat me alive, and will even take elevators to the 7th floor to find me. I spent my first year here suffering with the bites, and having tried numerous natural remedies and preventative measures, I found that the only thing that helped was injecting a vaccine into my belly fat once a week for 3 months. Whilst it really was as cringing as it sounds, I quite enjoyed it, and the end result was that I now react to the bites like a local...either you don´t notice the bite, or you scratch a tiny red dot for about 20 secs and thats it. I recommend it much more than going 3 months without sugar or alcohol (that was one of the hardest and most unrewarding natural preventative measures I´ve tried that achieved NO positive results).
Streuth, that sounds bad!I thought injections in to your belly were for rabies?! Glad you got it sorted though. Ours seem to go away when the weather gets warmer.
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