Saturday 29 March 2008

man-eating mozzies


There are giant man-eating mosquitos in Al Ain. I've never seen such big ones. They're quite easy to see and swat, but there are sooo many of them. We had to leave the classroom the other day to get it fumigated because we were all chatting away and simultaneously swatting mozzies. Apparently the college is being fumigated over the weekend and the surrounds are being 'fogged.' I hate to think what 'fogged' might mean. It conjures up visions of giant DDT clouds.

I keep wondering what diseases the beasts are carrying. I'm told that malaria disappeared from this area in the dim and distant past, but I'm also told (lots of rumours flying around in Al Ain) that if you are diagnosed with malaria you are refused treatment if you claim you got it here. However, if you got it in another country, you'll get treatment. I've heard of problems being legislated out of existence and of unemployment queues being substantially diminished simply by redefining terms. Simply refusing to acknowledge a disease as being away of getting keeping the records clean is another lateral thinking approach!

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