Things are eating my house (again)

Some of you may recall that last year I wrote about the termite attack on the house that I am currently living in. It was all out war trying to sort the problem out. They were appearing from holes in the floor inside the house and at one point I had visions of the house crashing into a kind of earthwork honeycomb created by these pesky creatures. We poisoned them, scalded them and eventually covered all their holes with concrete, having dug down to foundation level round the front of the house first. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the concrete had set and the termites seemed to have gone.

You can probably imagine my thoughts when I got up this morning and noticed the tell tale signs of termite activity around the front of the house again. A growing pile of granulated soil with a small hole in the centre, teeming with insects. If they weren’t so destructive and such a pain to get rid of they would be very admirable. If people all over the world worked at the same rate and with the same dedicated determination as termites the global economy would be in much better shape. The termites are opportunistic and have made the most of the smallest chink in our defenses to start digging, (a small crack in the concrete). I broke up the first mound of earth with a stick this morning and it is nearly as big again as I type this evening. I don’t know what it is about this particular location that the termites like. Perhaps the foundations of our house taste nice. Maybe they are launching a desperate search and rescue mission for the members of their community that went missing or were buried alive last year. Whatever the reason I now have a problem to deal with.

Building on last year’s experience this will not, I hope, take very long. I’m guessing that there is a queen somewhere in the colony which might provoke a bit of excitement around the compound. Last year Duncan, our farm manager, dug out the queen from another termite infestation. She was huge. Very nutritious though as Mary, our manager took her away and fried her. I don’t think I’d that like to try that gourmet item very much. I think the solution will be poison and concrete again. Simple, efficient and hopefully effective. Rather like the termites themselves. I think I’ll add them to the list of questions for God, (which so far includes mosquitoes and flies).