Pestilence

Pestilence
I had forgotten about earwigs.
There was one curled up in my kitchen roll this morning. The blend of shock and annoyance that they elicit on discovery is their hallmark.
Where will the next one be?
I know people who make me feel like this too. This is the time of year they turn up as well.

And rats. They are getting outrageous.
We have hens and ducks, compost heaps and woodpiles - so provide food and accommodation. But have cats and dogs as an amateur policeforce. The Casual Arm of the Law.

But the rats.  Their behaviour is getting out of hand.
We see them in daylight now, fearless.
They are terrorising the hens, who are highly strung anyway. Now they have started felling and stashing the broadbeans. That is taking the Piss.

What should we do? They have overstepped the mark.
The consensus is that we should talk to them. Well, we are of hippy stock.
Within this debate is a whole spectrum of opinions, that probably reflect our personal pain rather than an effective strategy.
Some of us feel that signalling our feelings by setting traps or poison might add weight to this message. Well they don't have to take the bait, do they.
They are obviously in their power, so have the choice.


Is this a perverse fusion of New Age and Tory philosophy?

I like this line of thought. It implies that some of our protective feelings might stem from projected victimhood.

Maybe I should regard the Rat as a noble opponent.
The hunter/ trapper instinct in me is very strong at the moment.
I caught two lobsters yesterday so feel like a real Human Being.


And Rabbits. The quiet nibblers on things.
Luckily the grandmother of most of our cat tribe, Lyra, has a taste for them, and passed that on to her kittens by feeding them warm ones. So the vegetables are safe. Ish.

They are noticeably on the increase on the land generally though.

Even the blackbirds are behaving like serial burglars at the moment, bombing round the garden, drunk on the juice of the berries they are plundering.

Generally, there is a sense of profusion after a challenging Winter, as if Life Forces have been jolted into a new vigour.
I have really appreciated this Spring and Summer. Every day of it.
We are alive.

Maybe only the fittest survived. The fittest earwig.

The strongest midge.

The healthiest rat.



The happiest human