Ouch!

I won’t post a pic of the bite/sting that I picked up on my wrist on Wednesday evening at the Hill, despite it being pretty impressive in an alarming itchy-swelling-of-the-extremities kinda way.

This morning it was still very hot & swollen, & at work I debated on a visit to the GP for antibiotics – breathless comments of ‘well, I read that there’s those spiders in the tropics can lay eggs under the skin & they eat feed on your flesh & the maggots burst out & kill you,” from my esteemed colleague did not do down well, I can tell you.

I nipped to see the pharmacist who was not much more use. Browsing, I took a tube of antihistamine cream ‘for bites & stings’ & a tube of hydrocortisone steroid cream ‘for bites & stings’ to the counter & proffered the offending wrist, & asked which was the more appropriate treatment.

“Well, you could use this one, which contains antihistamine, or this one which is a hydrocortisone steroid”, said the lady behind the counter, unhelpfully.

“Yeeeees, so which one would you recommend,” I asked.

“Well you could use either, really.”

Clearly they are two totally different treatments, but the deadlock was broken when I asked which was the cheapest & I now have a £3.22 tube of antihistamine cream – not that it appears to have actually made a difference to the bite/sting.

Later this evening – & with a plaster on the bite, I took mum to the Hill – she commiserated with me about losing the tomatoes & potatoes, but perked up immediately when she was let loose picking some FRENCH BEANS (emperor of Russia) & some sweet peas.

As we were picking these, John Badger (from the bottom) rolled up & gave me some good advice with regard to the biggest pumpkin competition – stopping the plants to prevent more pumpkins forming, & a feeding regime.

We managed to get away as cheery Brian & Pauline arrived, bringing with them the promise of wine to christen their new benches by their Small Shed – just as soon as we get a summer to enjoy…