Fire, flood, pestilence!

lost_in_thought
lost_in_thought Posts: 10,563
edited October 2009 in Commuting chat
OK, so I may have been exaggerating somewhat on the 'fire, flood' bit, but I've just been out for a spin on the maxima, and have been beaten back by what appears to be a plague of ladybirds! I know they've been in the news lately for their sheer abundance, but I haven't seen that many. Until today.

My protein intake has been through the roof, and there are about 35 of them in the shower tray that must have been caught up in my hair, or about my person. Ewww.
FCN 7/1
Viner Maxima, Tifosi CK7, Giant Bowery, Old commuter.

Comments

  • MonkeyMonster
    MonkeyMonster Posts: 4,628
    Wow - thing is there is an invasive species that isnt as good at its job but will out compete our more efficient but lazier natives... How many spots have they got?
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    WTFU
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • Feltup
    Feltup Posts: 1,340
    Just think how many energy bars you don't need to carry. Just keep your mouth open.

    I presume you were joking when you said you were beaten back other wise all I can say is WTFU!
    :wink:
    Short hairy legged roadie FCN 4 or 5 in my baggies.

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  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    Had about 20 that suddenly appeared in my bathroom at the weekend, from where I know not. I opened the window and they all flew away.
    <a>road</a>
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    I've noticed loads of non native ladybirds about recently. The non natives ones often hibernate in window frames or in houses, I remember opening a window in winter a year or so ago and it seemed like hundreds of ladybirds fell out...
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • lost_in_thought
    lost_in_thought Posts: 10,563
    They've got LOTS of spots. Lots and lots.

    And no, not literally beaten back. I fought my way through the hordes. :)
    FCN 7/1
    Viner Maxima, Tifosi CK7, Giant Bowery, Old commuter.
  • MonkeyMonster
    MonkeyMonster Posts: 4,628
    Those are the invasive ones... Don't feel bad at having slaughtered them, Its the classic 2 and 7 spots we need to thrive.
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • Spiny_Norman
    Spiny_Norman Posts: 128
    Sounds like Harlequin ladybirds. As MonkeyMonster says, they're aggressive newcomers, destroying everything in their path.
    N00b commuter with delusions of competence

    FCN 11 - If you scalp me, do I not bleed?
  • Eau Rouge
    Eau Rouge Posts: 1,118
    Spiny_Norman wrote:
    Sounds like Harlequin ladybirds. As MonkeyMonster says, they're aggressive newcomers, destroying everything in their path.

    Isn't LiT an Antipodean import herself? Aggressive (in a nice way) import destroying (the egos) of everything (on a bike) in her path.
    I see a problem with your logic here.
  • MonkeyMonster
    MonkeyMonster Posts: 4,628
    I thought she's half an export...
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • lost_in_thought
    lost_in_thought Posts: 10,563
    edited October 2009
    MonkeyMonster wrote:
    I thought she's half an export...

    Half an export? I'll take a pint, thank-you, I'm not Greg66. ;)
    FCN 7/1
    Viner Maxima, Tifosi CK7, Giant Bowery, Old commuter.
  • jonginge
    jonginge Posts: 5,945
    :lol:
    FCN 2-4 "Shut up legs", Jens Voigt
    Planet-x Scott
    Rides
  • greg66_tri_v2.0
    greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
    Oh, har har. Funny girl.

    :x

    And you can shut it, JG!

    :x
    Swim. Bike. Run. Yeah. That's what I used to do.

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  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    LiT, you'd LOVE the west coast of Scotland in the Summer. The beasties aren't nearly as pretty as ladybirds, but there are SO many more of them.
  • DanielCoffey
    DanielCoffey Posts: 142
    They are pointy too! And so healthy and well-fed, thanks to the diet of tourist.
  • lost_in_thought
    lost_in_thought Posts: 10,563
    Always Tyred wrote:
    LiT, you'd LOVE the west coast of Scotland in the Summer. The beasties aren't nearly as pretty as ladybirds, but there are SO many more of them.

    You know what? It sounds just brilliant. Maybe I'll move.
    FCN 7/1
    Viner Maxima, Tifosi CK7, Giant Bowery, Old commuter.
  • stuaff
    stuaff Posts: 1,736
    Midges.....aaargh. Remember them well from my own visits to Scotland.
    The ones we've got down south are bad enough- went round the Isle of Wight yesterday, didn't take my glasses...inevitably, got an insect strike in the eye....grrr.
    Dahon Speed Pro TT; Trek Portland
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  • MonkeyMonster
    MonkeyMonster Posts: 4,628
    Scottish midges are a whole level of pain beyond any others - luckily edinburgh doesn't get the proper mental ones that love the highlands.
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • Sewinman
    Sewinman Posts: 2,131
    Midges: Avon, skin so soft, alpine. Deet 100%. Smoking.
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Sewinman wrote:
    Midges: Avon, skin so soft, alpine. Deet 100%. Smoking.

    Just MTFU, they are small. Pain is only in the mind...
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Jay dubbleU
    Jay dubbleU Posts: 3,159
    Marmite diet - the little b****rs can't stand it :)
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    The Highland Clearances were nothing to do with the English or rich Scottish land owners.

    No. The clans just got sick of the midges and left.

    In the middle ages they used to take a sheep's stomach, place a bunch of pipes in it, blow down one of them really hard, and force air out of the others. The awful high pitched wailing noise used to keep the midges away, but again, no one could stand it. FACT.

    I reckon the midges are an environmental imbalance. There is a strange attitude up here that somehow the moorland has to be preserved from reforestation. Its not as though we are short of moorland, and there are hardly any trees left. Trees reduce grazing land, so the crofters and livestock farmers are damn good at arguing that the precious man-made midge ridden ecosystem should be protected. Precisely why environmental groups assist in this with controlled burning is completely beyond me.

    At least there are one or two mad Scottish Lairds trying to reforest a few glens.... and re-introduce bears and wooly mammoths and so on......

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