"Knock knock."
"Who’s there?"
"Amos."
"Amos who?"
"A mosquito"
We were just drifting off to sleep. We were at anchor, the sea was calm, taverna music from the shore played quietly, there was an occasional slapping of water against Missy Bear, when suddenly… Richard smacked his ear. That could only mean one thing. A mosquito!
We both sat up and put lights on. Not a trace of the little bugger. Hmm. We returned to our original setting (drifting off to sleep, calm sea etc). Smack! Lights on. Still no sign of the little bugger. That was it for me. I would be awake for hours, listening for that incessant, high-pitched, tzzzzzzzzz-ing whine.
Many years ago, Richard and I went on a tour of northern India. We had enjoyed our tour of palaces and Kiplingesque parks, and were now holed-up in some ex-Maharajas stately home, looking at black and white photos on the walls of polo matches. We had been very careful to avoid drinking tap water. Nevertheless, we had both acquired a bout of the squits [Ed – we had had a momentary lapse and had ice in our final sundowner cocktail].
We were up for most of the night taking it in turn to use the bathroom. The person not in the loo ('squitting') was responsible for trying to eradicate the hundreds of mosquitoes in the bedroom (by swatting them with a rolled-up, local newspaper). We refer to it as our ‘squitting and swatting’ night, and we certainly don’t have too fond a memory of it, although it makes us chuckle.
I had actually found a mosquito on board a week ago, so I’m not sure why I was so surprised. But we’re not talking balmy evenings yet! A Tog 4 duvet and a blanket is still a necessity at night. It’s a bit early for these pests to be out and about.
Admittedly, we are in a large bay across from a shallow lagoon, and mosquito larvae provide food for fish and insects. [Ed - Giolova Lagoon is a ‘Natura 2000’ site famous for migratory birds. I was pretty sure I saw a Peregrine falcon on our walk yesterday, and later learned that they nest on the rocky crags below the old, Frankish castle. The wetlands are brackish and the marshes of fresh water - probably mozzy heaven].
In fact, mosquitoes bring a number of benefits to us: they act as pollinators; engineering departments study the wing flight; medical companies study the painless way that they bite, and also chemicals in mosquito saliva stops our blood from clotting. And we can’t eradicate them – think of the ecological disaster from DDT.
Nevertheless, we don’t really want them on board. But, as I did finally drift off to sleep (trying to count all the mosquito benefits), the following went through my mind:
With apologies to Richard M and Robert B Sherman…
The wonderful thing about mosquitoes, is mosquitoes are wonderful things
Their legs are made out of rubber, they beat their tiny wings
They’re buzzy, buzzy, buzzy buzzy, fun fun fun fun fun
The wonderful thing about mosquitoes, is they’re not the only one!
Please pass me the citronella someone.