No photos this time as, unlike with the snake, this time I was called into action to despatch the latest horrors to emerge.
George the Architect had warned me that a couple of mice had managed to secure entry to the bat room, the bedroom beneath the kitchen, and that the room was littered with their droppings as well as their bodies. Joshua and I had rather put off the job of cleaning this up but, with the arrival of Olaf dawning, we went into action.
The good news is that I designed this house with George so that all rooms are self-sealing so the invaders were only in one room. George and I know how they secured access and that is down to a job the carpenter has not done despite many requests. George is on his case big time now.
The room was indeed littered with mice poo and a couple of bodies and that has now, largely, been dealt with. But that was not the end of it. There were also large beetles, an inch long, mostly dead but a couple showing flickerings of life until I whacked them with the broom. Then there was a giant spider. I have read about poisonous giant spiders here in Greece. It may be a myth but I was taking no chances and whack whack went the broom again.
I emptied out a cardboard box of various things to be dusted down later and then lifted the box. Fuck, I said very loudly, before remembering that Joshua was standing behind me. Hell it is a giant millipede. Again I have read about such creatures and know that they can give you a nasty bite. Joshua has seen them on Octonauts, one of the moronic cartoons he so loves, and sped into action by turning away to close the door, as he went back to the rat room, leaving me facing a monster, half an inch thick and at least four inches long. It was alive and it was hideous. Whack went the broom again and again and again. Eventually I stamped on it and it was no more. I scooped the corpse into a plastic bag along with many other corpses and decided that Joshua could have a fruit juice and that I’d sample some of the Rose left in the fridge from last year.
Cripes, it was ugly. And apparently its bite would have hurt. The bat room, named after the predominant wildlife it contained when we first arrived when it had an earthen floor apart from a large rock in the corner, all of which had to be dug out, is still not clean. Part 2 of this labour of Hercules, the slaying of the 100 footed monster of Toumbia, is planned for today, now that I have bought a hoover.