It’s still very hot. To withstand the heat, I have had all the windows open in my flat during the day and evening. Forget spiders coming in, my fear of catching heat stroke has outweighed any acrophobia I have.

Some creatures did find their way into my flat through the windows. Firstly a couple of mosquitoes. Now I know I am blessed not to live in a country where you can catch malaria, but I don’t like the idea of being dinner to a flying bug. While lying in bed the other night, I heard the distinct, high-pitched buzz of a mozzie – this lead to a somewhat bizarre battle at midnight, involving me, a can of fly spray and two tiny flying bugs in my bedroom. Ha ha ha! Die bugs die. You’re not eating me – remember, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. After polluting the atmosphere within my flat, the buzzing stopped. I went to sleep, amid the fumes, hoping my heart wouldn’t stop in my slumber.

I didn’t die in my sleep (although you probably guessed that as you’re reading this). I did however clearly fail to kill another bug during the late night battle. Yesterday evening, while in the bathroom answering a call of nature, a huge daddy-long-legs came flying out from behind the shower and towards the light. Now I’m not afraid of these, which is a little surprising considering my spider-phobia. Although this one was large and had a massive thing hanging from its body, which I can only guess was a stinger, seventh leg or super-sized penis. The insect may have been pleased to see me. I was not pleased to see it. It’s not a nice experience to occur when you’re on the toilet and it did scare me quite a bit – let’s just say I was sitting in the right place!

I thought I would take advantage of the hot weather this afternoon and do something constructive. The annual defrost of the fridge-freezer. I started at midday and it is still dripping away, the ice very much in tact, despite souring temperatures in the flat. Why does ice take so long to melt? If the polar ice caps melt as slow as the ice in my freezer, we won’t have to worry about flooding for a billion years.