We live close to a mosquito sanctuary ("protected wetland") and they have never been happier. Caution: remedies for bites work for some people and not others. My grandmother's traditional remedy of calomine lotion is still pretty good, though.
Definitely a personal thing. FWIW they’re going down now. The only thing that works for me is antihistamines – many a pharmacist has tried to fob me off with ointment and It Worketh Not.
From now to November I shall be liberally doused in “infested zones” insect repellent, yes the same kind you need in Africa. We didn’t get any proper cold weather to kill them off this winter and I fear a plague of biblical proportions.
The first summer we were in New Brunswick (we arrived in mid-July), I was absolutely bitten to b*ggery - I was beginning to wonder what sort of genetically-modified superbugs they had here. It wasn't quite as bad the next year, but I'm still inclined to douse myself with insect-repellent if I'm going to be outdoors for any length of time.
I remember when we would go to Canada for 7 to 10 days most summers while I was a young'un, we thought the mosquitoes were going to take over the planet! They were numerous, and hungry.
TICTH whoever managed to compromise my debit card, incurring a charge for a service I've never used in a place I've never been. I discovered it while checking my balance during my break at work, and had to spend my break on the phone with my bank. They are going to have to cancel my card and issue me a new one, and it all makes me feel very vulnerable.
Power of Attorney ceases when the person giving it loses the ability (ie, the sound mind) to revoke it.
Wow, that's quite a Catch 22! "I have power of attorney for X to manage her affairs if she becomes of unsound mind." "But X is of unsound mind, and so the power of attorney has no force."
Sorry, I have just found this. The theory is simple - as you have to be of sound mind to give a Power, any Power you give ceases to have force once you lose the capacity. So there has been statutory change - in my State it was in the late 1980's - that if certain procedures are followed at the time the Power is given, it endures. That followed concerns expressed by the Supreme Court judge who conducted the Protection list. He put a small committee together [text redacted to protect the identity of Shipmates - Piglet, AS host] and the government was persuaded. It may have helped that the committee drafted the legislation required.
BTW, Powers may be given for all sorts of reasons, not just a lack of capacity, and commonly are. You may be going overseas to work for a couple of years and want to give someone the ability to manage your affairs for a period of time. And you could limit it along the lines that it is to manage your house by letting it, but not so as to sell it or to deal with other property such as shares, or bonds. A Power can easily be drawn to provide for this or any other situation. similarly, a company can in effect delegate functions by a Power.
TICTH a notice sellotaped in the rear window of a car saying, ‘For good people to do evil things it takes religion’ - as if Stalin’s purges, Nazi death camps, the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and Pol Pot simply didn’t exist.
(I don’t deny that religion can be used in that way/ have that effect, but actually any ideology will do, it doesn’t have to be religious.)
TICTH a notice sellotaped in the rear window of a car saying, ‘For good people to do evil things it takes religion’ - as if Stalin’s purges, Nazi death camps, the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and Pol Pot simply didn’t exist.
(I don’t deny that religion can be used in that way/ have that effect, but actually any ideology will do, it doesn’t have to be religious.)
I think they are religious - they turn their politics into a cult/religion. Like trump does.
Today I consign to Hell the Law Society of Scotland. Or more specifically, the ID verification link they've been sending me every other day in relation to the sale of my dad's house. I finally got what I hoped was all the information they wanted*, went into the web-site thingy and put in my name, address, DOB and so forth, only to be told that it couldn't accept an address outside the UK.
What do they want - blood???
* including 12 months' worth of address history - why the hell they need that is anybody's guess.
Today I consign to Hell the Law Society of Scotland. Or more specifically, the ID verification link they've been sending me every other day in relation to the sale of my dad's house. I finally got what I hoped was all the information they wanted*, went into the web-site thingy and put in my name, address, DOB and so forth, only to be told that it couldn't accept an address outside the UK.
What do they want - blood???
* including 12 months' worth of address history - why the hell they need that is anybody's guess.
Same for the driving licence - can't be renewed if your address is out of the country. I've been told that you can't open a bank account either, but we've always kept ours active while we've been in Canada, and so far, there's not been a problem with that.
True, that. D. lost his British driving licence in a house move, and couldn't renew it because we didn't have a British address.
Further rant: TICTH Wee Bitey Things™. I was outdoors for all of about 10 minutes yesterday and am now covered in horrid little itchy blotches.
They say here that there are two seasons in Canada: Winter and Construction; I'd amend that to Winter and Wee Bitey Things.
ICTH morons who think that every country lane has zero traffic and that normal rules of road/ common sense do not apply.
Driving home at 9:55pm (so almost dark) on a lane which is a succession of double bends, I managed to spot the man on the opposite side of the lane on the way into the first bend, then almost ploughed into the rest of the party - 3 women another man, 2 under 10s - round the bend. They were strung across the lane (no pavements, high hedges) and all bar one wearing dark clothing.
First, the Highway Code has a section for pedestrians with which these people should acquaint themselves.
Second, if its almost dark and there are no streetlights or pavements, wear light clothing, and carry a torch.
What to a townie is a country lane and therefore has zero traffic is to the locals part of a major route: engage brain when you walk
Not necessarily - you get midgies in Orkney - but these wee buggers are in a different league. Each bite is a raging red spot with a "penumbra" (if that's the word) about an inch across, and they even manage to get at bits of your body that weren't exposed.
I think they take their toll on your system as well: they seem to make you feel very tired, maybe because your body's fighting against them.
@Piglet
They sound horrible. Do the local natives have any answers? Perhaps some killer repellent, or not going out at certain times of day or something?
The man in the black pick up truck this morning who was in such a hurry that he laid on his horn and speed around my car on a country road when I was slowed to a near stop with blinking lights for a doe and two fawns traveling on a narrow shoulder beside the road. He startled the family causing one of the fawns to run into the road and thankfully back in front of my car again rather then on in front of his truck. If he could have waited less then a minute more for the deer to walk the few yards to an open field and away from the road all would have been well. I caught up with his truck at the town stop light.
He does indeed sound like a total asshat.
I really don't know what kind of Bitey Things they are - by the time I've got the scars, they're long gone - but they can't be very big if they can sneak up your trouser-leg ...
We've got a picnic after the church service next week - I'll be dousing myself in insect repellent for that!
You have my sympathy @piglet. I'm allergic to bitey things, I still have the scars from a visit to Venice getting on for fifteen years ago. I find taking a low dose of antihistamine if I'm likely to be in midgey area helps. My husband looked like he had chicken pox from all the bites over his body when he was walking the West Highland Way the other week. If it has been me, it would have looked like I'd got the plague!
I'm a bit worried about that halo round the bite. Isn't it a symptom of something that needs checking?
A halo around a tick bite is the thing to watch for as it could be a sign of Lyme Disease infection. The tick has to be on your for 24-36 hours though to contract it. In the last few years, the mosquitoes have been horrible here but, so far this year, we have hardly any. I've had only one bite. That could change this afternoon as it is the lowest tide of the year and we're going out to a lighthouse to enjoy all the sand for the dog to run on. I'll be back if it is mosquito central! My bug shirt will be in the car!
TICTH the UK Government (presumably) for the utter hypocrisy of deciding to press ahead with the expansion of Heathrow Airport whilst also signing up to strict "green" principles. We're in a Climate Emergency, for God's sake - we need to damp down the demand for travel, not encourage it.
O come now - surely you don't expect the Selfservative Party to do anything that might prevent them from flying about, in indolent luxury, wherever they please?
If only the whole bl**dy boiling of them would fly off into the stratosphere, to be destroyed instantly by cosmic radiation, solar winds, comets, planet Nibiru, or whatever...
TICTH the 'gentleman' sat next to me on a computer in the library who is softly but repeatedly singing the first two bars of Ronan Keating hit 'No Matter What', but can remember no further nor keep his silence.
Reminds me of the story of how John Jacob Niles discovered the folk song "I Wonder As I Wander."
As Niles told the story, he was standing outside on a dark star-studded night and heard a girl's voice singing in the distance. Upon approaching the girl, he heard that she was singing "I Wonder As I Wander" but no more than the first line over and over again. Enthralled, he begged her to sing more but she wouldn't until he gave her a quarter. Even then she only sang the next line, no more. He had to keep feeding her quarters until he finally got the whole song out of her. Still, it was probably the cheapest royalty ever paid for a song that has become a Christmas classic.
Perhaps if you give the gentleman a quarter for each ten minutes that he can manage to remain silent, he'll let you enjoy the library in peace.
Oh dear. Just the other day my son gently informed me that I have been singing "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," since December. My father whistled constantly during his final years, my sister-in-law heard him in the library and slipped out. No one blamed her.
Oh dear. Just the other day my son gently informed me that I have been singing "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," since December. My father whistled constantly during his final years, my sister-in-law heard him in the library and slipped out. No one blamed her.
We have a bus driver who whistles. I have been known to wait for half an hour for the next bus or even get off a bus that he is driving because he whistles so badly.
We have two local bus companies. One provides stop announcements which are helpful. However the other has started providing announcements which are infuriating because (i) they use a horrible high-pitched synthetic voice with terrible Welsh pronunciation; (ii) they announce each stop twice; (iii) they don't always use the correct stop names; (iv) in some cases they are just plain wrong!
We have two local bus companies. One . . . has started providing announcements which are infuriating
We could start a whole thread on the joys of recorded transit announcements.
In Phoenix, the light rail line consists of some stations at which the train doors open on the right, and others on the left. The recorded announcement at each station includes "Doors open right" or "Doors open left" accordingly. Perhaps to accommodate the hard of hearing, or non-native English speakers, "Doors open right" ends with an uplift on the word "right" as if more is to follow but for some reason the recording was cut off. "Doors open left" ends with a deep drop in voice as if the speaker suffered a sudden heart attack.
On buses in Los Angeles, when a passenger pulls the cord to signal that he wants to get off at the next stop, a recording goes off that says, "Stop requested. Please watch your step when exiting the bus." The voice is that of a tough guy doing his best James Cagney imitation; the way he says "Watch your step" implies that if you don't, you're likely to get a knife in your back.
We have a bus driver who whistles. I have been known to wait for half an hour for the next bus or even get off a bus that he is driving because he whistles so badly.
[In Phoenix, the light rail line consists of some stations at which the train doors open on the right, and others on the left. The recorded announcement at each station includes "Doors open right" or "Doors open left" accordingly. Perhaps to accommodate the hard of hearing, or non-native English speakers, "Doors open right" ends with an uplift on the word "right" as if more is to follow but for some reason the recording was cut off. "Doors open left" ends with a deep drop in voice as if the speaker suffered a sudden heart attack.
I've taken the light rail hundreds of times and never noticed that. I'm not planning on taking it again until the Symphony starts up in September, but maybe I need to go for a short ride just to check that out.
(Personally, I'm just happy if there are no knife fights or drunks vomiting in the aisle.)
I've just been to a Big Town with a multi-level car park and was pleased to notice that not only has it been refurbished but there are now WCs on two levels (oh, the sophistication!) - but, as before, the staircase stank of urine.
Can anyone explain to me why people decide to use a public staircase as a urinal?
I've just been to a Big Town with a multi-level car park and was pleased to notice that not only has it been refurbished but there are now WCs on two levels (oh, the sophistication!) - but, as before, the staircase stank of urine.
Can anyone explain to me why people decide to use a public staircase as a urinal?
Is there any public toilet nearby? People who have to go sometimes find there isn't one. But then there are drunk people.
Re insect bites. We get spruce bugs. They want to eat trees but will bite people. They click very loudly when they fly, which is a bonus for detection. We leap away like people do for wasps that land on you. These are occasional summer terror.
The really nasty ones though are horse flies. They are at least twice the size of house flies. If they land on you they bite out a chunk of your skin and drink your blood through a funnel. Not making this up, the link has this description. The bites itch and hurt and bleed and swell for several days. They particularly like hot weather after a rain. They will hatch and come after you when you've been swimming in a lake. They are also really hard to kill. You no sooner swat one, and it shakes it off and takes off. Ice on the bite helps. We've debated horsefly bites versus wasp stings. If I wasn't allergic to wasp stings, I might take those over the horseflies. I carry benadryl for wasp stings everywhere.
Mosquitos. Cover-up and put on a DEET containing repellent. We're told more than 4 or 5 bites per minute drives a person a bit nuts. We've had 10 times that.
From what people have told me it seems likely they were either black flies or a rather fierce reaction to mosquitoes.
They're beginning to fade now, but they're still unsightly enough to warrant long trousers; I don't see why the sight of them should be inflicted on the citizens of Fredericton!
Got panicked call from Churchwarden at 7am to say that wedding we had booked for 2pm had changed time six months ago to 10am - our forgetful house-for-duty incumbent had forgotten to pass on the message.
CW and I started calling choir at 8am because, of course, the happy couple wanted a less than standard lot of music. Managed to scrape together a reasonable team for Rejoice in the Lord and My beloved spake but the original plan called for a short pre-rehearsal so slightly nerve-wracking.
Why is it that our PinC seems incapable of passing on information?
There is a plus - am on my way for an afternoon's sail.
I'm glad the weather has improved as we have Girl Scouts over from America and camping in one of the Brownie leader's garden with other Guides, Rangers and leaders. There's also to be a campfire which the Brownies and Rainbows are invited to. I've taken up friendship bracelet kits for the goody bags the visitors are being given and will be back later to help with car movement for the youngsters being dropped off for the campfire, then back with a bat detector much later. I can't stay around as much as I'd hoped as daughter's breathing really isn't good today.
She was, however, better on Thursday and I escaped into that London to see Light at the Piazza and try to buy promise badges at the Guide shop. The last plan foiled by a notice on the doors saying "Closed at 1pm for staff training, open again at 9:30am Friday".
A good way of training staff would be to have the shop open, and serving customers (with new staff duly supervised, of course), but hey, what do I know?
Comments
From now to November I shall be liberally doused in “infested zones” insect repellent, yes the same kind you need in Africa. We didn’t get any proper cold weather to kill them off this winter and I fear a plague of biblical proportions.
Unfortunately, the mosquitoes in Virginia don't mind the taste of garlic.
Sorry, I have just found this. The theory is simple - as you have to be of sound mind to give a Power, any Power you give ceases to have force once you lose the capacity. So there has been statutory change - in my State it was in the late 1980's - that if certain procedures are followed at the time the Power is given, it endures. That followed concerns expressed by the Supreme Court judge who conducted the Protection list. He put a small committee together [text redacted to protect the identity of Shipmates - Piglet, AS host] and the government was persuaded. It may have helped that the committee drafted the legislation required.
(I don’t deny that religion can be used in that way/ have that effect, but actually any ideology will do, it doesn’t have to be religious.)
I think they are religious - they turn their politics into a cult/religion. Like trump does.
What do they want - blood???
* including 12 months' worth of address history - why the hell they need that is anybody's guess.
Same for the driving licence - can't be renewed if your address is out of the country. I've been told that you can't open a bank account either, but we've always kept ours active while we've been in Canada, and so far, there's not been a problem with that.
Further rant: TICTH Wee Bitey Things™. I was outdoors for all of about 10 minutes yesterday and am now covered in horrid little itchy blotches.
They say here that there are two seasons in Canada: Winter and Construction; I'd amend that to Winter and Wee Bitey Things.
Driving home at 9:55pm (so almost dark) on a lane which is a succession of double bends, I managed to spot the man on the opposite side of the lane on the way into the first bend, then almost ploughed into the rest of the party - 3 women another man, 2 under 10s - round the bend. They were strung across the lane (no pavements, high hedges) and all bar one wearing dark clothing.
First, the Highway Code has a section for pedestrians with which these people should acquaint themselves.
Second, if its almost dark and there are no streetlights or pavements, wear light clothing, and carry a torch.
What to a townie is a country lane and therefore has zero traffic is to the locals part of a major route: engage brain when you walk
I think they take their toll on your system as well: they seem to make you feel very tired, maybe because your body's fighting against them.
They sound horrible. Do the local natives have any answers? Perhaps some killer repellent, or not going out at certain times of day or something?
There is a folksong which has the lines;
...the blackflies digging my bones
Way up in north On-tar-io.
A classic, so it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo
I really don't know what kind of Bitey Things they are - by the time I've got the scars, they're long gone - but they can't be very big if they can sneak up your trouser-leg ...
We've got a picnic after the church service next week - I'll be dousing myself in insect repellent for that!
A halo around a tick bite is the thing to watch for as it could be a sign of Lyme Disease infection. The tick has to be on your for 24-36 hours though to contract it. In the last few years, the mosquitoes have been horrible here but, so far this year, we have hardly any. I've had only one bite. That could change this afternoon as it is the lowest tide of the year and we're going out to a lighthouse to enjoy all the sand for the dog to run on. I'll be back if it is mosquito central! My bug shirt will be in the car!
If only the whole bl**dy boiling of them would fly off into the stratosphere, to be destroyed instantly by cosmic radiation, solar winds, comets, planet Nibiru, or whatever...
But I do think you've caught my drift (tho' I appreciate that drifting is a notion somewhat alien to the Episcopal Ark).
As Niles told the story, he was standing outside on a dark star-studded night and heard a girl's voice singing in the distance. Upon approaching the girl, he heard that she was singing "I Wonder As I Wander" but no more than the first line over and over again. Enthralled, he begged her to sing more but she wouldn't until he gave her a quarter. Even then she only sang the next line, no more. He had to keep feeding her quarters until he finally got the whole song out of her. Still, it was probably the cheapest royalty ever paid for a song that has become a Christmas classic.
Perhaps if you give the gentleman a quarter for each ten minutes that he can manage to remain silent, he'll let you enjoy the library in peace.
We have a bus driver who whistles. I have been known to wait for half an hour for the next bus or even get off a bus that he is driving because he whistles so badly.
In Phoenix, the light rail line consists of some stations at which the train doors open on the right, and others on the left. The recorded announcement at each station includes "Doors open right" or "Doors open left" accordingly. Perhaps to accommodate the hard of hearing, or non-native English speakers, "Doors open right" ends with an uplift on the word "right" as if more is to follow but for some reason the recording was cut off. "Doors open left" ends with a deep drop in voice as if the speaker suffered a sudden heart attack.
On buses in Los Angeles, when a passenger pulls the cord to signal that he wants to get off at the next stop, a recording goes off that says, "Stop requested. Please watch your step when exiting the bus." The voice is that of a tough guy doing his best James Cagney imitation; the way he says "Watch your step" implies that if you don't, you're likely to get a knife in your back.
Back seat? Earplugs?
I've taken the light rail hundreds of times and never noticed that. I'm not planning on taking it again until the Symphony starts up in September, but maybe I need to go for a short ride just to check that out.
(Personally, I'm just happy if there are no knife fights or drunks vomiting in the aisle.)
Can anyone explain to me why people decide to use a public staircase as a urinal?
But not nice, I agree.
Re insect bites. We get spruce bugs. They want to eat trees but will bite people. They click very loudly when they fly, which is a bonus for detection. We leap away like people do for wasps that land on you. These are occasional summer terror.
The really nasty ones though are horse flies. They are at least twice the size of house flies. If they land on you they bite out a chunk of your skin and drink your blood through a funnel. Not making this up, the link has this description. The bites itch and hurt and bleed and swell for several days. They particularly like hot weather after a rain. They will hatch and come after you when you've been swimming in a lake. They are also really hard to kill. You no sooner swat one, and it shakes it off and takes off. Ice on the bite helps. We've debated horsefly bites versus wasp stings. If I wasn't allergic to wasp stings, I might take those over the horseflies. I carry benadryl for wasp stings everywhere.
Mosquitos. Cover-up and put on a DEET containing repellent. We're told more than 4 or 5 bites per minute drives a person a bit nuts. We've had 10 times that.
They're beginning to fade now, but they're still unsightly enough to warrant long trousers; I don't see why the sight of them should be inflicted on the citizens of Fredericton!
Got panicked call from Churchwarden at 7am to say that wedding we had booked for 2pm had changed time six months ago to 10am - our forgetful house-for-duty incumbent had forgotten to pass on the message.
CW and I started calling choir at 8am because, of course, the happy couple wanted a less than standard lot of music. Managed to scrape together a reasonable team for Rejoice in the Lord and My beloved spake but the original plan called for a short pre-rehearsal so slightly nerve-wracking.
Why is it that our PinC seems incapable of passing on information?
There is a plus - am on my way for an afternoon's sail.
She was, however, better on Thursday and I escaped into that London to see Light at the Piazza and try to buy promise badges at the Guide shop. The last plan foiled by a notice on the doors saying "Closed at 1pm for staff training, open again at 9:30am Friday".