The great mystery of the 'hives' has been solved. Yeah. Hives. Like hell. These are goddam mosquito bites. All makes perfect sense now. To those of you reading this blog from countries that have mosquitoes, or at least little things that bite in the night, you will think that I am very stupid. I am. I come from a country with no heat, no sunshine, and certainly no mosquitoes. I did not think that a) it was such a problem here, and b) that they could do such damage. All those explanations I had in my head, like an allergy to the water, the food, the coffee (eek!), the sun (!), the sheets, my clothes....air, are redundant. And now I know why just my arms, hands, and face are affected, and why it appeared on the very first morning I was here - I left the window open.
So all was revealed when a girl on the course said, quite in passing, oh, you are staying at the 'Oltremare' accommodation. It's nice, except for all the mosquitoes. I knew the first day I saw you that you were there from all the bites on your face and hands.' It turns out she had been staying there for a bit last year and was in a similar position, though perhaps not quite as bad. So off I went to the chemist to buy a Vape, a little gizmo you plug in that emits fumes the little bastards don't like, and I slept very well. I had been hoping for the sounds of screaming dying insects, but alas, just silence. I feel better already. Now that I know what this is. Just have to wait for the boils to calm down now. The accommodation is the guest wing of the Istituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare, which houses what was the Botanical Gardens for the Colonies, where they brought back unusual and rare plants from what the Italians rather optimistically call their 'colonies' (sorry, I couldn't resist).
It could be worse, they could have had malaria.
Double class today. I'll probably be praying for malaria by the end of it.
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4 comments:
Hello Sir
Oisin here, glad to see all is going well in Florence, apart from the 'Italian hives'. It's a shame about your sham professors as well, but at least this week sounds better than last.
No major news here - we're moving next week and totally unprepared. Had a lovely weekend in Brussels, and weather here is now baking. Must get out in the sun.
Talk soon,
O.
I was going to write to you both: I've had several dreams about you! Nothing rude, just meeting up in London and stuff. "Hives" well on the way to recovery. Now I've just got to work on my tan!
Very sorry Kenneth to say this, but in some countries (like mine for instance) those Vape thingies are illegal because research has shown they cause cancer. Several mice have already died during research, so I suggest you try something else to get rid of the mosquitoes.....
O great, now I've got cancer to worry about as well. That's just perfect. Thank you for your concern. Maybe I'll go for Citronella, which I'm told is natural.
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