lovedHave decided we probably won't have our house-warming party on 26th June, as Richard is supposed to be paintballing that day already, it's also supposed to be his work's summer party, and there is every possibility that the house will be full of damp proofers and plasterers. (Bets are being taken now as to whether The Chemicals![*] the damp proofers need to use will set off one or more allergies in me. Fortunately? I can always go back to the flat for a couple of days if needsbe). I'd much rather have people come to formally View the house when all the (major) work is done and it's decorated the way we want it. So, with all the various other things going on in July, it'll probably be the first weekend in August instead. As a result I'll do something on the 26th probably not in the house probably only with close friends (but feel free to invite yourself along anyway (unless you're someone I really don't like)).
To finish boring you, ants have invaded our sugar cupboard. Now, I quite like ants - I could watch them for whole minutes at a time - but nonetheless, I would prefer not to have any in my cupboards. Putting poison down is completely out of the question. I have heard of "the Buddhist insecticide" approach, whereby you put down something like bicarbonate of soda, which is nontoxic in small quantities but toxic in large ones - the idea being that instead of you killing the ant, it kills itself through its own greed; but I'm not sure my ethics are even comfortable with that. Does anyone know of a method for removing ants without harming them at all? I wondered if there was something I could do to disrupt the pheromone(?) trails that they use to signal to each other where food is, or intentionally leave a largish pile of sugar somewhere far away from my cupboard...
Help urgently needed for the ant problem. Sarcy comments not urgently needed. :D
[*] Whenever we refer to "bad" chemicals, we always talk about them as "Chemicals!" with capital letters and horrified tone of voice. This is to mock my mother, who is one of these people who believes that "chemicals" are fundamentally bad. I have tried pointing out to her that every cell in her body and everything she ever interacts with contains chemicals, that water and food are chemicals, that herbal medicines also contain chemicals, but to no avail. I half-feel like I have failed as a chemistry teacher in that I can't overcome 50 years of belief with a few hours of common sense. Huh.
