Chapter 29: Attack of the Flies

One of the disadvantages of living in a warm climate is sunburn. The only other disadvantages is insects. I've already mentioned the brush I had with ants, but the most common, and most annoying is flies.

The flies are why the monkeys look so grumpy!

I was already used to this to a certain extent. Scotland is not without it's share of besties, and small black flies seem to be a regular occurrence, even in doors. In Gibraltar, there just seem to be more of them, and they get everywhere. They also seem incredibly stupid and suicidal! If you leave a cup of water out, they will always fly right into it and drown themselves. Often the area around my kitchen and bathroom sink is a graveyard of dead flies, after a kamikaze attempt to get at the water splashed around it.

Burns was well aware of Scottish beasties, and even wrote about them.

When you are outside in Gibraltar, you need to contend with the slightly bigger flies. If you are sitting outside, you need to swat them off occasionally. This is a manoeuvre I heard described in the Australian outback as the Australian Wave. Definitely far less fun than the Mexican wave! This was all to be expected though in a warmer climate. However, there was one place where the flies were unbearable.

Just put another shrimp on the barbie.

One of the very few cafes at Europa Point is called appropriately Europa Point Café. I had started going there for lunch. Apart from being convenient, the food was actually quite good, and just about affordable (on the scale of Gibraltar prices). However I began to notice that my arm was getting more exercise swatting away flies, than it had got raising a glass when I used to drink a lot of beer. The café had a definite problem with flies! Something must have been attracting them, as I haven't experienced this problem to the same extent in any other establishment in Gibraltar. Seeing flies crawl all over the café cutlery on one visit, made me wonder if this was the cause of my recent 'Delhi belly' (or Gib belly in my case!) which resulted in me missing the final of the Rugby World Cup.

Flies are frequent customers!

After this incident, I decided no more food at Europa Café. However, I was due to meet a friend there for a drink one Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. While now not keen on the venue, it was the only place open in the area at that time. I thought I'd play it safe and just get a drink in a bottle. I'd had a lazy morning, and only just showered and dressed. Why am I telling you this mundane piece of information dear reader? Well it is relevant to what I'm about to say. I went over to the café and met my friend Jen there. We chatted away, and were swatting flies off right and left. The café has it's doors and windows open, and part of it is open to the outside. At one point, a bird flew onto our table to join us inside the café! The flies were beginning to bug us both (no pun intended!), and we only stayed there for half an hour.

Open to the elements.

When I got back to my flat, my skin was crawling. I had to have another shower, and dumped the clothes I had been wearing in the washing basket. So I'll be boycotting Europa Point Café from now on. You get less flies outside, than inside that venue.

Defence tactics: only drink from bottles and shower afterwards!