Oh what a night!

I am beginning to wonder if I’m cut out for life in the tropics! As time passes, I seem less and less able to cope - physically or emotionally!!


Everyone is being bitten, Francis has around twenty bites per leg, bless her however, she is coping well and has tiny dots to mark out where she has been bitten. I have, thankfully, very few bites but those I have start off with a little spot which progressively spreads …and spreads. The one today takes the form of a circle on the inside of my lower arm and measures 4” in diameter. I am also suffering with bad headaches, dizziness and nausea.

None of that though, compares with last nights little episode…..

It is very, VERY quiet here at night. After bedtime, all there is to listen to is the sound of guard dogs barking in the distance, the sound of the house creaking, insect or snake noises outside the window ….and my heart pounding in fear! Occasionally, I hear Alan snoring in his room which I find extremely reassuring.

Last night, I went to bed to read. Francis and Alan had also turned in so I was, as ever, deafened by silence! With the light still on, I began to doze off. Suddenly I heard, what sounded like a spider wearing stiletto heels scuttle under my bedroom door and run across the floor to the corner of the room, under my clothes rack. I sat bolt upright in bed and even though I was terrified to look, I began adjusting my vision to see what creature was causing this noise. As suddenly as it started, the noise stopped! I was incredibly scared and imagining all manner of beast lurking at the foot of my bed. As the seconds passed, I started to wonder if I had in fact dreamt the noise – I have a habit of dreaming all sorts of nonsense. As my pounding heart began to return to a normal beat, I saw it…..

I have seen many cockroaches in my time here but by far THE BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen was crawling up the outside of my mosquito net ....not six inches from my face!!!
....I panicked!!!!
....I screamed!!!!
....I picked up my torch,( which I always sleep with) and whacked it off the net!!!

It landed with a thud on the floor under my bed (that’s how big it was!). I had no idea what to do so did the only thing I could think of and screamed for Alan as loud as I could.

Alan & Francis burst into the room, clearly thinking I was being attacked by a lion…! I could barely speak, I was so terrified but through my gibberish, they realised I was telling them about it being under the bed.

Just like Superman, Alan sprang into action with his trusted can of Doom!  A long squirt but still the horrible bug lived on..! It staggered out from under the bed and zig-zagged across the floor, all the while pursued by Alan who, after one final squirt, despatched it to the afterlife!

When it was properly dead, Alan removed it and they left me to recover.

Sleep did not have the decency to take me…! Hours passed with me conjuring up images which were only marginally better than imagining I could feel it crawling on me!!!

It was, without doubt, a most dreadful night.

If only I could have yelled out the words I’M A CIVIL SERVANT, GET ME OUT OF HEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!