Bugs Life

I have to write about this cos it's bugging me. Those bugs.

Since the weather thawed and temperatures can go up to the twenties on some days, there have been more 'life' than usual around us. And I'm not talking about the weeds and plants in the garden. The bugs too have woken up from their hibernation and are making more and more appearances in our house.

The bugs here are different from Singapore's. Except for spiders, I've never seen the others before in my life. There is one 'prehistoric' looking one that looks like a scorpion except the 2 pincers are at its tail and another grey beetle-looking one with spidery legs. I won't be able to show any pictures of them cos I couldn't stand the sight of them, much less take a focused picture. My hands will be shivering and I doubt very much they will strike a nice pose for me. Anyway, I only go near them when they're dead or when I'm about to kill them....haha.

Though we keep our windows and doors closed all the time, they still managed to find their way in. This morning, I saw 2 of the spidery bugs at the bottom of the stairs, near the shoe rack. They were already dead. They were not there last night and I wonder what happened? Did they came in to have a duel and killed each other or were they killed by some other bigger predators? Regardless, I sprayed a little more insecticide on one and stamped on the other to make sure they are not playing dead.

The can of insecticide is my greatest weapon against these unwelcome guests. I have one can upstairs and downstairs on standby. (Don't worry, I don't use them on humans.) Yesterday, a whole colony of black ants were having a fantastic time moving into my postbox. Maybe they're upgrading to a high-rise, cemented apartment but I'm not taking in tenants who don't pay rent. So a generous amount of insecticide later, this morning I checked, they're gone.

The most disgusting find was opening up my strawberry jam one day and seeing a 2cm 'prehistoric-looking' bug with pincers on its tail inside. My skin still get goosebumps when I think of that sight. It was crawling around merrily like its just had a strawberry bath. I dug out a lump of jam with it and toppled them into a pot of dirty water in the sink. That's the end of your bath, mate. I'm so disgusted that I'm gonna throw the whole jar of jam away. It's a waste, it's still a full jar. But I don't know how long it had been inside and how much of the jam it had contaminated, if it's laid any eggs inside......yucks, no way I'm eating that jam! How it got in is still a mystery. I don't remember leaving that jar of jam open for long. But they're around. I know it when I saw another one just now, hiding under a wet cloth I'd use to wipe XX's mouth and placed on the table. I just cannot leave food uncovered nowadays.

The other irritating insect appearing is the fly. Sometimes when the window or door is open, one will fly in and it's enough to irritate you. These flies are big as bees and they make hell lot of buzzing noise when they fly. Plus they fly so fast that it's hard to spray insecticide at them. Hubby uses a badminton racket to try to hit them and so far, he's managed to strike twice.

I think when summer comes, these bugs, spiders and flies will get more. Though they're irritating, I'm not as scared of them as the cockroaches and lizards we have in S'pore. At least, they're pretty small, except for the spiders, which can be quite big. Sorry to all insect lovers that I have to be so murderous. I don't think these creepy-crawlies will be extinct just yet.