Amy Rose

Sorry I missed yesterday, my niece Amy came down from Durham for a few days and so I got side tracked. I will back blip when I get more time. I haven't seen Amy in three years, so it was quite emotional to see her again, for both of us.

Today's Indonesian difference discussion is house guests. I am of course talking about guests with more (or less) than two legs, although I have jumped discovering a two legged surprise guest next to me when I woke up more than a couple of times.

We get the usual ants, spiders, flies and wasps, although the species may differ. All Indonesian houses have several geckos (chik-chaks) in residence, in addition, I have had enormous beetles, praying mantis, rats, mice, a tree frog living in the wash room, A lizard that changed colour, roaches and a snake.

Most are fleeting visitors, but the geckos are permanent but quite harmless and even welcome, as they hoover up the mosquitos and flies, spiders and the occasional roach. The down side is that you have to manage your kitchen accordingly, always covering dishes and food. Packet foods have to be contained in plastic containers in case of mice.

The biggest lesson for me was always put the lid on sauce bottles, after the last lumpy shake resulted in a dead, fermented gecko, flopping out of my bottle of ABC sauce!

Dave