Ant Attack!

This fine fellow to the left is a new resident at my block of flats. Him, his queen and his hundreds or thousands of other mates!

ARGH!

I got a letter from the managing agent of my flats to say that after some investigation they have identified that my block is infested with Pharaoh ants! They require baiting to get rid of which involves putting something out that the worker ants take back to their queen and slowly poison her. Nice, eh!?

To be honest I've noticed the odd ant now and again in my bathroom always just running along the edge of the bath but I've squished them and assumed that it was just an isolated thing. *sigh*

My main problem is that the managing agents have just given me a week's notice to send in the pest control company and I'm away on holiday on the day that they are due. Typical!

"If you aren't around, please make arrangements to leave your keys with a neighbour or someone else in the building"

Okay, I see my neighbours from time-to-time and say hello. On one side of me they don't speak English, on the other there always seems to be someone new every six months. And I'm supposed to leave my keys with them! YEAH RIGHT!

I'll be giving the agent a call tomorrow to see what my options are. All the flats have to be baited to guarantee that the ants are removed so a bit of notice would have been nice.

Last night to take my mind off annoying ants and other things I met up with more traveling buddy and chilled out in a bar overlooking the river in Richmond. Just what I needed really...

Close to the countryside but easy to commute in from, Richmond is a nice town spanning the River Thames. It's quite an affluent area, so average house prices are too much for me but otherwise it's the sort of area that I'd like to settle in (if I won the lottery!).

Funnily enough I had a dream last night that I HAD won the lottery, so fingers crossed that I am becoming psychic!

We spoke about the world, women and our worries, had a laugh and generally the world seemed a happier place. Our next 'expedition' is to Peru in October, something we're both looking forward to.

I came back to my flat, squashed a few ants (are they multiplying after all or am I just noticing them more!?) and went to bed too tipsy to care...