Those of you that know me well know that Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities is one of my all-time favorite novels. I especially like the metaphor where the buzzing of the blue flies is used to compare the buzzing of the gallery when viewing trials of the 18th century at the Old Bailey. While I have not yet visited the Old Bailey or Tellson's Bank - I have met my very own "blue flies" here in Wales; except not metaphorical...literal.
My last night of term break was spent meeting and having to deal with a little critter known as a "cluster fly"- except I was privileged to meet hundreds upon hundreds of them and it was not fun!
Cluster flies are apparently indigenous to the UK and helpful websites abound with information about their habits and various methods used to combat their infestation. Their name refers to their common habit of "clustering" when hibernating - often in slate roofed buildings - such as the one in which I currently live - during the autumn months. Cluster flies are field flies, and as the weather becomes cooler they seek out shelter in nooks and crannies of buildings and houses. They typically seek out previous hibernating areas year after year.
It is important to note however, that while cluster flies are a nuisance...and I speak first hand about this... they are not considered a risk to human health and are not considered as evidence of poor hygiene. They are simply a fact of life for most people who live in this area of the UK.
It all started with the innocent spraying of one wasp and a fly in the bathroom hovering near the ceiling light, so Micaela could take shower. It was all down hill from there, as I can only guess that the bug spray on the ceiling light penetrated to the attic where the flies were awakened, and... seeking a way to escape the poison, managed to squeeze their way through the attic crawl space gap and enter the house. I sprayed and hoovered hundreds of these critters up and still they kept coming...it was not fun. Finally, after two hours of non-stop buzzing, spraying and hoovering I exhaustedly sought help from the neighbor who was kind enough to provide me with much stronger bug spray and taped up the gap around the attic crawl space in order to keep the flies held captive in the attic.
Thankfully this worked and I was able to vacuum the remainder dead flies and clean the bathroom from all the dead flies that had found their way onto the floor and bathtub. The captive flies were none too happy however, and angry flies do make for noisy flies... and they were trying their hardest to make it out of the attic space and kept us awake most of the night. If not for the visions of a horror movie in the making with flies attacking us in our sleep we may have had a sound sleep; as it was we slept in the same bed that night.
Micaela, thoroughly annoyed and quite frantic over it all, spent the night at a friend's house on Monday, leaving me to face the battle of the buzzing blue flies on my own as I returned from school. Thankfully, there were not too many to be found, most were corpses, but they did manage to break through the tape along the gap of the attic crawl space during the day. Persistent little buggers!
Mercifully the blue flies , aka "cluster flies", have all but disappeared as of today and I may sleep restfully. What an adventure this is!
My last night of term break was spent meeting and having to deal with a little critter known as a "cluster fly"- except I was privileged to meet hundreds upon hundreds of them and it was not fun!
Cluster flies are apparently indigenous to the UK and helpful websites abound with information about their habits and various methods used to combat their infestation. Their name refers to their common habit of "clustering" when hibernating - often in slate roofed buildings - such as the one in which I currently live - during the autumn months. Cluster flies are field flies, and as the weather becomes cooler they seek out shelter in nooks and crannies of buildings and houses. They typically seek out previous hibernating areas year after year.
It is important to note however, that while cluster flies are a nuisance...and I speak first hand about this... they are not considered a risk to human health and are not considered as evidence of poor hygiene. They are simply a fact of life for most people who live in this area of the UK.
It all started with the innocent spraying of one wasp and a fly in the bathroom hovering near the ceiling light, so Micaela could take shower. It was all down hill from there, as I can only guess that the bug spray on the ceiling light penetrated to the attic where the flies were awakened, and... seeking a way to escape the poison, managed to squeeze their way through the attic crawl space gap and enter the house. I sprayed and hoovered hundreds of these critters up and still they kept coming...it was not fun. Finally, after two hours of non-stop buzzing, spraying and hoovering I exhaustedly sought help from the neighbor who was kind enough to provide me with much stronger bug spray and taped up the gap around the attic crawl space in order to keep the flies held captive in the attic.
Thankfully this worked and I was able to vacuum the remainder dead flies and clean the bathroom from all the dead flies that had found their way onto the floor and bathtub. The captive flies were none too happy however, and angry flies do make for noisy flies... and they were trying their hardest to make it out of the attic space and kept us awake most of the night. If not for the visions of a horror movie in the making with flies attacking us in our sleep we may have had a sound sleep; as it was we slept in the same bed that night.
Micaela, thoroughly annoyed and quite frantic over it all, spent the night at a friend's house on Monday, leaving me to face the battle of the buzzing blue flies on my own as I returned from school. Thankfully, there were not too many to be found, most were corpses, but they did manage to break through the tape along the gap of the attic crawl space during the day. Persistent little buggers!
Mercifully the blue flies , aka "cluster flies", have all but disappeared as of today and I may sleep restfully. What an adventure this is!
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