It appears that all the mosquitoes and ‘no-see-ems’ have now been made aware of my arrival in HK.

In my first week here, I was bitten by a few of them. These insects obviously have extended families because those first few, told their families and friends and now they all dine regularly at my expense. I have never been bitten this badly in my life.

Currently there are that many bites on my legs that I am wondering if they bite in particular places to leave messages for each other – kind of like a visual Morse code – or if each mosquito has a preferred place to bite and when it recognises that another has bitten in its place, it then does a revenge bite in the other mosquito’s favourite place. Or is it random? When the bites are joined together, do they represent something? Do they form a novel in Braille? They could just be opportunistic and just go for a vacant bit of skin but those days are numbered with the way they are eating me up. Will there then be bites on bites? Or will they all have to go on a diet?

I usually get my legs waxed so the in between period sees quite a bit of hair growth. This doesn’t appear to put them off. As Mr Shallot describes it, it’s just like bum-fluff so it’s not too hard for them to get through. I’m jealous of the hair on his legs as his seems to deter them. I just had them waxed again today revealing the most recent bites, I didn’t realise that the situation was that bad.

Vitamin B hasn’t helped either though it has improved my energy levels.

A neighbour has recommended that I use a product called Burt’s Bees. It’s all natural and fantastic – when I remember to put it on. It works brilliantly though it does have the side effect of repelling our dog temporarily.

I try hard not to scratch but it is very satisfying. You can tell that it drives me nuts and this is why I’ve put so much thought into their biting idiosyncrasies.

They have now worked out how to get into our place and have found where I sleep. Not that I sleep for long with them buzzing around my head. I leave my arms out as bait and I can kill them as they land.

This is just as satisfying as scratching the bites.

NB – No mosquitoes were hurt in the typing of this piece and I am currently reeking of Burt’s Bees so I don’t think I’ve been hurt either. Sleep time could be another story……

* Thanks to Spiderbait for the title