The high pitched sound seeped into my subconscious. I shot upright from sleep and groggily crawled out of bed in the dark to the cabinet. Semi-awake now, I rummaged around inside. "Where is the d....d thing?" "Ah! Yes". I swung round toward my bed and went into ‘attack mode’. .........Swsshhhhhhhh! And a cloud of insecticide blanketed the area where until recently I’d been sleeping. I replaced the can and looked at the clock: 4 am. I had just ‘welcomed’ the first ‘mozzie’ of the year. I crawled back into bed through the (?) carcinogenic cloud of chemicals and tried to return to my dream. But my brain was now too alert, as it listened for any repetition of that dreadful sound.

Somewhere in the ‘grand scheme’ of life and natural selection, a very successful "beastie" was created to inflict extreme misery on mankind. It is equipped with sophisticated nook and cranny locating equipment, human pheromone detectors and infra-red heat sensors. Many people have died because of its disease carrying
properties (malaria, encephalitis). Untold numbers of people have been disfigured or discomforted by it. The Koreans hate it with a justifiable passion. It’s bite marks can remain permanently to pock-mark an otherwise unblemished skin. The irritation of it’s sophisticated blood transfusion technique (as it injects you with a blood anti-clotting agent to keep the wound open) lasts for weeks. I can only be thankful that I do not live further south in Asia, where it is the malaria carrier.

It is a war and I sometimes think that humans are on the losing side. The Korean Public Health services and private firms try to contain the breeding of the insect, but it is too widespread and cunning to be completely wiped out. Also I have my doubts about the safety of the method used. The ubiquitous scooter is mounted with a smoke generator and it blasts its way into every alley and doorway. But what is in the smoke, I ask myself? More aromatic hydrocarbons - which are perfectly ‘safe’? I see storekeepers (including pharmacists and supermarkets) open their doors to get an extra blast of the choking fumes. No matter if they are also serving customers at the time. And like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn, these mobile smoke platforms attract crowds of children (mostly small boys), who laugh and scamper behind the smoke, raising their T-shirts to invite an extra puff that will caress their skins.

So on this day (25th April), I have encountered my first mosquito of the year 2000. I never found its corpse; perhaps I either scared it away or it is satiated for a while before renewing its assault on my blood supply. I can only wait and listen............