Dont want to worry you Nick but....

[Grumpmeister]

Apparently these buggers are headed our way...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A mini-platoon of soldiers will be deployed to the Belgian forests to tackle a plague of hairy caterpillars that are causing allergy outbreaks in humans.

Procession caterpillars, so-called for the way they march in lines through forests, are covered in long, toxic hairs which cause dermatitis and respiratory problems and account for up to 80 percent of doctor visits in the affected area.

"A bit less than a platoon, about 24 soldiers and airmen, will be deployed to help the fire brigade and civil protection authority combat the caterpillars," Belgian military spokeswoman Ingrid Baeck said on Thursday.

Oh thats what a half platoon is, I had an image of a load of munchkins in combat gear.

She said Belgian armed forces were also deployed in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kosovo and the Congo but that they had a duty to help the local civil population.

Equipped with super-size blowtorches, the soldiers will spend six weeks in the eastern province of Limburg from Monday, waging a tree-by-tree war on the scourge of caterpillars, which cling in groups to trunks and branches.

Hmmm ok, maybe I should rename this I dont want to worry Nick's neighbours but... 

"In teams of two people, they will go through the forests and burn the little animals off the trees," said Baeck. "There have not been enough people to do this and I think we can make the difference."

Previous attempts to rid forests of the caterpillars, which number in the millions thanks to mild weather, have included spraying pesticide using a helicopter and setting traps for the adult moths coated in female hormones.

[Nick]

 

I must start to make a list of my worst disasters. They don't all get reported here you know.

I think I may not have mentioned the ongoing "collision with a canoe" incident recently, now superseded by the damage to the back of the car. The front damage not yet sorted, so the car will have to got to Howard Basford twice now, leaving me in a Nissan Micra Automatic again

[Grumpmeister]

I must start to make a list of my worst disasters. They don't all get reported here you know.

Please do, the entertainment factor helps me keep my sanity when I'm in the office 

[Nick]

Just told Mrs Nick on the phone that I had found tenants for the house and saved us ?500.

Reward?

Slap?

SLAP. WHY WHY WHY? (How do you get your wife sectioned?) 

[Grumpmeister]

Perhaps tenant vetting may have something to do with it. A couple of strangers in the estate agents doesnt quite match properly vetted tenants Nck 

[Nick]

There is a much bigger back story here. The agent would have vetted them and sent them to us anyway for his ?750. And the word vet is advised there cos the house is there for this

http://www.liv.ac.uk/vets/general/index.htm

We bought it off vets, let it to vets (4 years)  and aim to let it to vets. These three are vets. Do you see a theme developing here?

[Snoopy]

Do they cut Beagles nails? Is there a deal to be had?

[Nick]

They will even circumcise you if you wish. Do you want the address?

[Darwins Selection]

There is a much bigger back story here. The agent would have vetted them and sent them to us anyway for his ?750. And the word vet is advised there cos the house is there for this

http://www.liv.ac.uk/vets/general/index.htm

We bought it off vets, let it to vets (4 years)  and aim to let it to vets. These three are vets. Do you see a theme developing here?

I do indeed see a theme, only vets will rent it, presumably because it smells of animal pee and normal people wouldn't want a house where horses had been dissected in the kitchen for homework.

[Snoopy]

VETS???? What sort of Vets?
This sort:


Or this sort


 

[Nick]

There is a much bigger back story here. The agent would have vetted them and sent them to us anyway for his ?750. And the word vet is advised there cos the house is there for this

http://www.liv.ac.uk/vets/general/index.htm

We bought it off vets, let it to vets (4 years)  and aim to let it to vets. These three are vets. Do you see a theme developing here?

I do indeed see a theme, only vets will rent it, presumably because it smells of animal pee and normal people wouldn't want a house where horses had been dissected in the kitchen for homework.

I have been round there and they do that. But the TA says they clean up later.

OK?

[Barman]

There is a much bigger back story here. The agent would have vetted them and sent them to us anyway for his ?750. And the word vet is advised there cos the house is there for this

http://www.liv.ac.uk/vets/general/index.htm

We bought it off vets, let it to vets (4 years)  and aim to let it to vets. These three are vets. Do you see a theme developing here?

I do indeed see a theme, only vets will rent it, presumably because it smells of animal pee and normal people wouldn't want a house where horses had been dissected in the kitchen for homework.

I have been round there and they do that. But the TA says they clean up later.

OK?

Do you check under the patio after they?ve left? Any newly-dug soil in the garden, horse-shaped flower beds, that kind of thing?   

[Grumpmeister]

Or has the local butcher had in any extra lean oddly flavoursome 'beef' in stock 

[Nick]

They give me the leftovers cheap

OK?

[Darwins Selection]

They give me the leftovers cheap

OK?

How is Bovril the leaking cat?

(or Horlicks or Marmite or whatever its name was)