Dear LPG,

Now that I am retired somehow what happens at home is much more important to me.  I have lived alone for quite some time but before I was retired, I seem to have always just used it as a sort of way station where I slept,  got ready for work and ate between trips to work and out with friends.

Now that I spend more time there, I am aware of so many things that never bothered me quite as much before.  Over the past few summers I have spent more time in the garden which can only lead to one thing.  Even though during recent years, there seem to be less and less of them around,    I believe that every fly that remains is drawn to my garden and ultimately manages to find its way into my house via my back door.

I have tried all the sprays and fly catching devices imaginable and although they do work I cannot be the only person that does not like to find their remains when I get round to dusting behind the curtains or hoovering under the settee.

I finally went to the internet and found some interesting tips and hints there.  So rather than aiming sprays at them; a pastime which often results in mini battles where I win the war but at the cost of tripping over furniture as I try to follow their flight paths with the fly killer spray can, I have found some deterrents, including some that the internet assures me will keep them away rather than kill them. 

I was quite surprised to read about the natural ways that often deter the nasty little things, and something that can cost as little as 3p if you have some water and a plastic bag to hand is reportedly quite effective too.   There are the obvious smells that attract them but upset us, although the internet also offers some surprising ideas which are likely to be quite pleasant to most of the human population (lavender, lemongrass and cider vinegar) and many of them have the advantage that they do the job for a much longer time without needing the effort that spraying and aiming at them takes. 

Seeing as their numbers are still dwindling, and also not seeing the little fruit flies until they are annoyingly close to you just when you least expect them to appear, lead me to find some websites which might make interesting reading for those who feel like me that, dirty as they may seem to us, all of God’s creatures are entitled to have their own space in the world as long as they choose somewhere that is not part of mine!

GD, Beckenham

It is obvious that many parts of the USA have a much bigger fight on their hands when it comes to repelling insects than we have in the UK, but they have also found a few alternative methods and GD shares a few…

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