THINGS THAT GO BUM IN THE NIGHT.

   My sister came to stay with us in southern spain, with a view to buying an old property, had a glorious time untill her final night. She woke the household  yelling "l've been pierced by a red hot needle". Next a  centipede came pouring out from her sheets. This sent her into utter panic. She was running around the kitchen with my daughter throwing vinegar at the offended buttock. Poor sister she was howling like a Banshee! .  Eventually we got her to a different bed with warm words and vodka.

   The centipede  (oryza barbarica) is north african, like so many creatures around here. Centipede would suggest one hundred legs, but in fact they. have twenty pairs. The. first pair are adapted  for piercing and injecting venom. These two legs have been modified over time as poison claws. They are hollow and hold the venom which is made by the poison glands, to which they are connected .The body of this centipede is orange/yellow, each segment being black at the top. Indeed with.a dim eye they could be mistaken for a small serpent. Some reach sizes of up to 7 inches /18cms. l shudder!

   The body covering of centipedes is not waterproof, they easily dry up and die. Like the one in the photo below  which was swept out from under my bed. They are confined to humid surroundings such as compost heaps, under stones, behind sinks, in plug holes,bathroom floors, lurking in damp towels, and in your bed!

   They are hunters, hunting in the cool of the night. Few will hunt them. I have witnessed  a spider deftly tying a writhing one up in its web. In some parts of the world they are welcome visitors, eating flies, locusts and cockroaches, but also geckos and other noctural creatures. I once had a cecko who had taken up residence behind the door to my chicken house. Each morning l would carefully open up trying not to disturb it. l became rather fond of it. One day l found in its place a plump centipede.

  My sister did indeed buy a cortijo next to me and left a note. (Thank you for every thing-it has been great fun, except for !..........!?

   Then she left. On the way back through France she fell in a cesspit!.......

d