Forced out

My wife already suffers from an inferiority complex of sorts when her friend comes to stay- about once a year. Not that her friend is the type to look down and she knows that but pride has her scrubbing her little flat top to bottom until it sparkles so that when her friend comes from her big house out in the sticks with its multiple rooms and own burn she won't feel so bad. It also must be said that my wife is ultr-hygienic verging on the point of OCD when it comes to cleanliness. That is why I can count on two hands the number of nights the children have not been bathed. It is an overkill and even on those missed nights they were under special circumstances. Tomorrow her friend arrives and the home is infested with fleas. You can imagine her horror. Lets face it regardless of social standing who wants to invite a guest to a house of fleas.

Oh yes, when a young girl woman sat in my living room thanking the wife for taking her cat into our home and watching three young children run about her she neglected to say we were taking on a lot more. After she left we should have noticed that the flea collar and the flea spray that came with his handkerchief on a stick was a good indication. It was only a few days later when my wife noticed all the little blighters while combing him that we finally realised. The pet shop sold her something called 'Frontline' which was hidden in a cabinet like the crown jewels but couldn't be applied for 4 weeks because in between my wife had tried two lots of other sprays without success. So finally when this was applied it did exactly what it said it would and the cat has been flea free since but he's the only thing in the vicinity which is. More spays purchased, lots of hoovering and washing and still they remain. To say I am fuming would not even come close. I bite my lip because whenever I open my mouth it just makes my wife feel guilty. All in all to date we've spent over £100 which could have been put to better use at this time of year.

Yesterday morning I forced myself out in the car with wife driving and boy in the back. Another mission to cleanse the house before we call for an exorcism. I've never been in Hamilton during the day for a long time so it was special milestone for me. While my wife "popped in" to get what she required I followed with the boy. We looked at the fish in the rows of tanks and then had a little peer down at the rabbits as time ticked on. Finally a little agitated I went to find my wife and discovered her in deep conversation with a young shop assistant who obviously knew as much about pest control as I did. Still my wife bought it and we came away with two bombs. More expense and I presumed more futility.

Bombs was about the right description though they were like some kind of firework. We were supposed to vacate the house for 2 hours but there was no way I could manage that amount of time so half an hour would have to do. My wife lit the bombs and as I walked out the door with the boy I had a look back to see funnels of dark grey smoke rising from these things on the floor beginning to fill the air. Thoughts of coming home to blackened home filled my mind as we went to pick up my daughter from nursery. We picked the youngest girl up, got some fuel and then headed out for lunch at McDonalds drive through- a novelty that my daughter enjoyed and my older daughter cursed her for later having missed out.

My wife suggested we eat our food beside Strathclyde Loch to kill some time. I had already killed more than enough time and as hungry as I was knew that if I was to get more anxious I wouldn't be able to eat but I thought I would at least give it a try. Like all of that morning had been it was very uncomfortable. At times I wanted to run and at other times I was fine. We were there for the best part of an hour. I got out for 10 minutes after eating taking photos of swans, geese, birds and anything else I could find. Oh and the water of course but no touching this time as I was frozen. Then the rest of them joined me and we walked about for a bit. It was good.

We decided to go back home through Hamilton again. Having not been there in the city centre during daylight for over 3 years I was going through for a second time that day. We even passed the job centre above where I have been dreading going. Looking at it I still don't fancy it much. Its a bit of a walk, for me, to it from the car and then my the looks of things quite big and imposing inside. Its years since I have been in a job centre. The last I remember of them they were all open plan. Incidentally when I first claimed the job centre was 5 minutes walk away and shortly after I had my big panic attack they closed it down so all about me must travel in to here instead.



Before heading home we went to a cemetery. I go on a site where there is a monthly competition to win a new camera and this months theme is "remember remember". Originally I had ideas of brilliant fireworks and illuminated big wheels and all sorts of eye candy but as I stated in a previous post Firework night didn't turn out like that. Instead I had to go for sparklers with the girls. One of the images had my oldest daughter looking a bit manic so I spruced that up a bit but couldn't get it to work right. I hate low light. So I needed an alternative.

Instead I decided to use remembrance day. I knew there was a local memorial commemorating all of the people who died in the first war and had located it to a cemetery so to kill more time we went there. The memorial is quite magnificent and there were of course a lot of poppy wreaths placed at its foot. The only problem was the lack of sky which was instead just a grey nothingness. By this time the boy had fallen asleep so while my wife watched him I took my daughter for a walk around the headstones. A bit morbid I know but I find them to be beautiful when they are well kept and very peaceful



When we got back indoors the mist was thick. I was choking as I went around the home opening the windows. Two hours of bombs had certainly stolen the breath from our home. Even with the windows open it was so bad that I decided to take the kids out for a walk. The boy was less than impressed with his new hat and refused to move for most the walk but I didn't let it anger me as I usually do. In fact I was quite calm. In all I'd been out for 45 minutes in the morning and then 2 hours shortly after. We'd covered nearly 25 miles which is close to the best we have done at night and to be honest I could have stayed out much longer. Even the walk was fine and again I could have walked more. It was a very good day- the best in fact for a long time. And all because I was forced out the door my little parasites and there may be more to come as they are still not gone. Even as I type my wife has just come in from work and is on her hands and knees inspecting things, tutting and squashing while I start to itch. We now have a vet approved spray to try named RIP. More money and the last resort.