Bug Spray

Last Saturday was our departmental Fall picnic out in Mount Pleasant at the Palmetto Islands County Park. Alas, i have no photos of this event owing to me forgetting to take a camera - profuse apologies indeed. However, i shall make up for this next week when i take my camera to my conference in Cashiers to get some nice pictures of the Blue Ridge Mountains area of North Carolina. So where was I? Oh, yes. So, every year, the whole Biochemistry Department heads out to a picnic shelter where there is lots of food, wine, beer, water and soft drinks and generally, we all sit around and eat, drink and be merry. THe more energertic of us (myself included) try and burn off the food we've eaten by playing football or volleyball on the nearby pitch. This serves as a warm-up for the intramural volleyball competition which is starting next week (and, of which i'm probably going to be Captain of our team this year. Fun!).

Of course, one major disadvantage of being outdoors and near a lot of greenery is the likelihood of their being a fair few insects buzzing around for your general annoyance and this year was no exception. Having decided to wear shorts for a change - as the weather was good - i made the decision to put a lot of anti-bug spray on my legs in the hopes of repelling. Of course, in my hurry to play, i didn't put any on my arms. Not that it mattered. Y'see, by Monday, my legs quite frankly looked like they'd been chewed upon by all and sundry, with bites from my ankles up to my thighs and back again. In sharp contrast to this, my arms were pretty unscathed save for, perhaps, two or three bites. Thus, i have come to the conclusion that the bug spray manufacturers have arranged a conspiracy where their spray doesn't work so you go crazy and buy more, and more, and more. Or something like that. Either way, i've been trying not to scratch them all week - as it'll make them worse. Bloody gnats!!