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Stopping Common Indoor Bugs
February 15th, 2010 by Owen Jones, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
Some of the commonest bugs we see indoors anywhere in the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. Nobody likes to see insects in the house, so most people will go to just about any lengths to eradicate these common indoor bugs. The less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less unwelcome.
It does not matter where you are in the world, it can be very hard to keep these common indoor bugs outside, unless you go to the extremes of keeping all your windows and doors closed at all times, which is obviously impossible. I now live in Thailand and I know for sure that this is not possible.
So, what on Earth can you do? Well, let’s deal with all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I find them the most unpleasant indoor bug. They are very annoying, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can produce irritating sores and besides that, all flies spread disease. I cannot bear to see them strutting about on food, knowing that they have probably just come off some dog’s muck somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their dirty feet!
My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not expensive and can be fitted retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can cover only one half of the window at a any one time, but I do not find that a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite ends of a room. I like to see the flies on the mesh trying to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is wise to switch on as little light indoors as possible so as not to draw these common indoor bugs.
My second line of defence is natural predators – lizards, like Geckos (Jin Jok, in Thai). Some people don’t like them in the house either and I can’t say that I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are difficult to keep out and they do eat hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I particularly like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to jump on any bug trying to wriggle its way through the wires.
My third line of defence is a handheld bug zapper. You know, the electric, handheld bug zapper that looks like a toy tennis racquet. They are brilliant at catching and destroying any flying indoor bug. The inset literally explodes and vaporizes on contact with the fully-charged wires of the indoor bug zapper. If you haven’t tried using one, you really should. They are most satisfying. These three defences keep our house pretty much free of flies.
The creeping common indoor insects are less of a problem really. Door screens on self-closers will keep 99% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in pretty easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they stay away from me, as they consume other insects too. They are on our side to be honest. However, for those who can not bear to catch them and throw them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works a treat on spiders too.
Fleas can sometimes be a problem, if you have cats or dogs, but then if you wash or dust the animal once a month, you should be able to keep these common indoor bugs under control fairly easily. However, there are two final measures that we employ. Once a week, before we go out for the day, we spray every room with fly killer and every six-months we spray any rugs or carpets with an insect killer containing permethrin, which will survive washing and vacuuming for that long without losing its ability to kill common indoor bugs on contact. If you stick with these methods, you should be able to keep your home or office quite free of the most common indoor bugs and the less common indoor bug too.
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Thailand – How I First Came Here
December 13th, 2009 by Owen Jones, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
I first came to Thailand in 2004 and I came here more of less by accident. I had travelled a lot in Europe: Russia, Western Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa and north South America, but I had never found the time to travel to Asia.
One night, I was chatting to a friend who had travelled a great deal throughout the world and he was telling me about his favourite place, to where he had been returning year after year for fourteen years. Knowing the man’s experience as a traveller, I was very taken aback to hear that he had been choosing to go to the same spot in Asia for fourteen years.
I just had to ask him which part of huge Asia held such an enticement for him and he said Thailand. I knew practically nothing about Thailand, except that I had had a few meals at a near-by Thai restaurant over the years. I also knew from collecting stamps as a boy that it used to be called Siam. Anyway, my friend asked me if I’d like to go. I answered that I would ‘one day’ and meant it.
He startled me by saying that he was going to Thailand for a month soon and that I was welcome to go with him, if I wanted. I replied that I had a couple of jazz festivals to go to soon and maybe I would, if there was at least a month between them and if I could get a flight and if… I could hear myself putting him off, but I did not know why.
A few hours later, I went home and being an avid Internet user, I checked out a bit about Thailand on the travel brochure sites. It looked really fantastic. The prices were good too except for the flights. Hotels were cheap to reasonable and food and drinks prices were insignificant compared to where I lived. So, I checked the dates of the two Jazz festivals and they were thirty-three days apart. Now for the flight. I spent well into the next morning checking flights and found one for the day after the first festival leaving from our local airport. It was not the cheapest flight, but it gave me more time.
In a reckless moment I booked it there and then online. I then found an inn with rooms to let online that my friend had said he went to on quiz evenings and guessed that they would be open by now serving breakfasts. I sent them an email and a response came back twenty minutes later. I had been lucky again. The boss was in the middle of checking yesterday’s figures, when he saw my email come through. However, not sure of his Internet ability, he wanted me to phone him right away. I checked my watch, it was still 4AM so I phoned.
He took my booking on trust and so I did not have to make a deposit. I had been told about Thailand, made up my mind to go and booked the flight and room all within five hours and I could not wait for nine o’clock to come to inform my friend that I would be going too.
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