Midges

Don’t go out at twilight. That’s when they’re hungry. You never get one midge bite, you get a collection. They swarm and nibble and leave you with spots all over. If you (like me) go outside in short sleeves to mow the grass at 7:00pm you’ve made a bad, bad decision. Stay outside long enough and they crawl around your face and into your ears. When I spent May 2023 in Scotland during my sabbatical folks typically had two observations: the weather may be beautiful and the midges will be unbearable. On that trip? No midges! Not a single midge; felt like an exaggerated local yarn. Three years later, and south across the Irish Sea, I can tell you I was wrong. There are midges in this part of Europe and you are their delectable buffet. I thought that the lack of midges was why people settle on the coast. Perhaps the ocean breeze keeps them at bay. Nope. Talked with someone yesterday who said, quite definitively, that was not the case. They get so bad at the beach he lives on that he has to…