The Fly Catcher

Flies really get on my tits and, living in the country, we do get more than our fair share of them. The easy solution is to use one of those spay cans of insecticide. I don't particularly trust them and, as we have an aquarium in our dining room, I can't use them anywhere near the fish. I have tried using fly paper but it's not actually very effective at catching flies; for the most part it usually ends up stuck to my hair as I forget that it's there. That leaves more "natural" means.

For a start, I do tend to leave spiders to their own devices. It may not win me any awards in the good housekeeping guides but a decent little web in the corner of the room is quite efficient at mopping up the flying beasties. The best thing I ever had was a pitcher plant which was very effective. The flies were actively drawn to the thing and once they were in there was no way out. Unfortunately, when we were on holiday I forgot to leave enough water in the plant pot and it died. We also had a Venus fly trap for a while but small people kept setting it off by dropping bits of sausage in and it died as well. As you can see, I have the horticultural skills of Agent Orange.

Anyway, I have discovered a new and surprisingly effective way of getting rid of the little buggers and it involves this happy chappy:

It's one of those rarities: a domestic appliance that is made in the UK; and I discovered that its one main selling point is highly effective against flies - it sucks harder than a Guy Ritchie movie. I was changing the fittings the other day when I noticed that the two flies that had been bothering me had suddenly disappeared. So, I fitted the crevice tool to the pipe and stood in wait like some sort of Jedi Knight. As soon as the flies were within sucking distance, just a swift flick of the wrist was enough to make the annoying bastards disappear. I did get a spider at one point by accident but I'm sure it will have a plentiful food supply inside the Henry.

Now, I wonder if it works on midges?