mmoa_writes

This morning I killed the largest cockroach I have seen in this hemisphere and probably half-poisoned myself in the process. From the looks of it, it was an adult (and probably female so I had to disinfect the entire room in case the eggs had got spread around) which meant that the roach spray didn't have as much of an effect on it as just whapping it repeatedly with an Italian shoe. Nice.

I do feel a bit guilty, considering they don't actually do any harm and they can't help triggering some deep seated subconscious hatred by their sheer disgustingness. But it's the way they just come out of wherever it is they're hiding, like stealthy assassins with too many legs and weird kidneys (one of my more disgusting encounters where I squished one and got all it's kidneys writhing away at me like a demon out of Mononoke-Hime. Although considering I thought it was something else at the time...).

In spite of said guilt, I spent most of today trying to find some replacement spray and ended up with this weird powder based concoction that apparently works very well, the only drawback being the almost fluorescent trail that I've now left around the house. It'll be worth it though, when we get to sweep up the legions of cockroach dead tomorrow.

Though that's something that really irritates me about this whole infestation (aside from having to deal with it in the first place which was entirely due to a stunning combination of landlord incompetence and the rather filthy habits of a few of my housemates. Yes, I know I now sound like Miss Prism, but the only other word to use would be slutty, but that has other unfortunate implications.) is just how difficult these cockroaches have decided to be. We tried so many great traps that I know if I had been a cockroach, I would have fallen for, hook, line and sinker like delicious treats that'd lead them into starbucks' paper cups which they can never get out of, shallow bowls full of fermented juice and cheap coke from Lidl* and stuff lined with vaseline. In fact, not just the cockroach-me, but scores of cockroaches around the world have apprently met their doom in similarly horrible but tasty ways. But not these cockroaches, oh no. It's search and destroy alone.

Maybe it's just something about Manchester.

*Actually, I'm beginning to see why that didn't work.

EDIT: Have been glutting on Avatar: The Legend of Aang of late which has been marvellous. Am halfway through the last series now. Absolutely fantastic and I finally get what people were going on about when they were comparing the drawing styles of the cartoon and 'The Meek' webcomic (similarly fantastic). Also really impressed on me how important visuals can be when it comes to keeping the impressions of a fictional character going, even when writing their adventures is taking much much longer than you thought it would *grumbles at self*.