This morning, though, was an interesting variant. It was about five-thirty when the
unmistakeable buzz of a flying insect woke me.
I hadn’t even started dreaming. And
it was much too early. And it went on
after my eyes and ears were definitely open.
This was the real thing.
I’m good in a crisis.
Like a super-hero, I switched on the light, sprang out of bed and
grabbed a towel. The buzzing stopped. But I had a fix on it: somewhere around the
front curtains. I did a forensic
inspection of all areas then carefully agitated the curtains. The buzzer wasn’t falling for that. I lowered the towel and backed away. It was a blink-first standoff.
It blinked first, a black buzzing dot hovering near the
wardrobe. I went into full Zen warrior
mode. One swing of the towel, and the
sleepy queen wasp was squirming on the floor.
I finished it off, binned it and went back to bed.
Probably two hours later the unmistakeable buzz of a
flying insect woke me. It stopped as
soon as I opened my eyes. I waited; it
didn’t come back. It wasn’t there. Oh well, I thought, that’s an addition to the
repertoire of wake-up calls. At least
they’re all based on, or drawn from, memory, so I don’t expect herds of
wildebeest in the attic. Mustn’t get
complacent though; I did once hear a Coldplay record …
We seem to have a lot of queen wasps around this year, too. I wonder if it has anything to do with the jubilee?
ReplyDeleteI was brought up in a country whereby the cessation of the high-pitched whine was cause for concern.
ReplyDeleteThere's a daddy long legs trying to get out of my study window right now. I'm torn between thinking 'it's harmless, let it out' and 'leatherjackets are a nuisance in the lawn, kill it.' I should be decisive, like you.
ReplyDeleteThe French for tinnitus is acouphène (m). Just thought you might like to know. You never know when it might be useful.
ReplyDeleteMy husband always rescues any wildlife that gets into our house (he might draw the line at wildebeast though). I, on the other hand, take the view that I don't go into their house so they shouldn't come into mine.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't about the real ones, I can deal with them each in its own way (as can you all, I see - I think Liz has the right paradigm). Chris, thank you for that tip, but if it were acouphène I'd get used to it - it's the randomness (every three weeks maybe) that jolts me. (Or at least so I pretend for blog-effective purposes.)
ReplyDelete