Cockroach

This is a personal anecdote that ends with a death. I killed a cockroach.

In my last months in Durban, South Africa, before I finally left there for the UK, I lived in what was known as a ‘wood and iron’ in Overport Drive.

One night we were woken by a rustling noise. It was unusual. I went to the light switch by the door, and switched on the light. The floor of the next room was covered in a seething wall to wall carpet of cockroaches that vanished in less than a minute. Where to, I don’t know.

We laid out plenty of chemical cockroach repellent the next day, and the problem didn’t repeat itself.

On Friday night this week, a single cockroach, about 5cm long, invaded our space. Jeremy Giraffe killed it with some spray.

"I'll fix it for you," says Jeremy Giraffe.

They are extraordinary animals, cockroaches, perhaps the most unattractive beasts ever, carrying a reputation of invincibility in the face of the coming nuclear holocaust.

Oops. Sorry. That was the science fiction bit.

If cockroaches interest you, this is a nice long article on Wikiwand: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Cockroach.

This is published on a need-to-know basis.