Thursday 22 November 2012

Death to Beelzebub



This summer the wet weather followed by heat gave us a problem with flies we usually avoid. It started when on two consecutive days I was driven down from  sewing on the terrace by the number of flies. We muttered about getting a zapper when we next went to Agadir. Beloved thoroughly cleaned the kitchen ,floor, surfaces, the lot to discourage them. That afternoon I went into the kitchen to find it crawling with flies like some biblical plague. Clearly we could not wait for Agadir . It must have been a general manifestation because when Beloved went to the Hanut over the road midafternoon in the rest-time the shopkeeper put two cartons of milk on the counter because 9 times out of 10 that's what we buy. Beloved said "er no" and the shopkeeper immediately reached for the fly spray without him having to ask for it. That day was obviuously the day for buying fly spray . We used it twice daily. We have also went to Agadir and managed to purchase a "KILL PEST" zapper. We didn't see them at first but to Beloved's bemused  amusement the shop assistants in Bricoma responded positively to my request "Avez-vous une machine electrique pour mosquites bzzz bzzz bzzz ZAPP!!?"
It has been on continuously in the kitchen since. It seemed effective by the number of dead in it's tray but more keep coming and we didn't cook until  after dark  when they appeared to sleep. There is a loud crack every time one is killed which can be quite startling but judging by the frequency it seems to work best in conjunction with the fly spray as though the poison prevents them resisting the allure of the UV.
Now we are back and it is cooler there are far fewer flies. This can be easily measured in that in October we were emptying the zappers tray three times a day of about 50 flies we now haven't bothered emptying it for a week because its only zapping 1 or 2 a day.

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