Desperate Houseflies

 

Pun intended.  This is not for TV series.  It is a boring Tuesday, oops, I mean Wednesday.  Starting the work-week on a day other than Monday sometimes throws my brain out of sequence.  Noticed a fly buzzing around at my desk.  What?  Right here in the office?  Yes.  It lands on my head, monitor, paper files and sometimes tickles my hand as I try to write an email.  Talk about flies.  They seem to be everywhere these days.

 

I remember at home early one evening while we were sitting down to a dinner which included a Petai dish.  It was still bright outside.  (Yes, our dinner time is around 7.00).  Petai curry already warmed up in a stainless steel pot.  We could catch whiffs of the captivating smell.  Those who've eaten or smelled Petai should know how captivating it is.  But we're not the only ones to notice.  As soon as the pot was opened, about half a dozen flies showed up buzzzzing.  Not only that.  They attacked.  They raided us.  They swarmed all over the dining table.  We got out 2 fly-swatters and counter-attacked.  I had to work my racquet (I mean swatter) like a Thomas Cup player.  I downed 3 of them.  They retreated for a moment.  But as soon as we settled down to eat, they buzzed us again.

 

They like to hover around close to your face, then try to land on the Petai.  As if they know you dare not hit them there.  You don't want to have Petai curry flying around as well.  So, we eat with spoon in one hand and swatter in the other because they also noticed as soon as you put down the swatter, they're cleared to land.

 

These flies probably come from the open dumpster on the opposite side of the junction from our back lane.  How I wish we have better garbage disposal system.  At least, people should be made to wrap up their garbage properly before they dump it.  As it is, people who rejoiced they bought a corner lot are now living in regret.  They have this open dumpster right outside their windows.  We are a little bit better because ours is one house further away.  Big deal.  We still have to deal with uninvited guests at mealtimes.