July 15, 2005
Pestilence
The final indignity. Not only have I served as starter, main course and dessert for horseflies for Connemara for the last week, but this fellow used the roof of my car to give his missus a damn good seeing to. And I was parked outside a church!
Is it just me or are there far more horseflies about this year than ever before. I've been out in Connemara over the last week, and each time, I've been attacked by swarms of the vicious little sods. I'm well used to horseflies from summers spent on the bog (now thankfully distant memories) but I don't recall the sheer numbers of them. I have an organic insecticide which has two noticable characteristics :- (a) it tingles like hell for the first ten minutes and (b) it smells bloody awful. I usually find that while I'm trying to spray it on, the horseflies get in about half a dozen sneaky bites. And I have a 100% record for getting at least one squirt into my eye, onto lens of the camera, or blinding a passerby.
You know that scene in Star Wars where the rebels fly into the Death Star to drop their bombs inside the shipo before escaping in the nick of time? Well, you might want to think about that when you're debating just how far up your leg (assuming you're wearing shorts, of course) you're going to spray the afore-mentioned tingling protection. My own experience has been that the Luke Skywalker of horseflies is alive and well in the Twelve Bens, and the Force is truly with him.
Feeding time - horseflies draw blood. On the plus side, when you're standing near a horse or donkey, the horseflies won't bother you at all.
galway,
ireland,
irishblogs,monasette
Posted by Monasette at July 15, 2005 09:16 AM