NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

.. you could be in for a nasty surprise. And the same could be said if you mooch around in long grass. For, my friends, we are in the 'tick season', those tiny ectoparasite arachnids that feed on the blood of mammals - and, by mammals, that does include us! They will crawl up your legs, find a dark and warm place (thighs, waist and, er, other regions) and then start to take a slow, long drink. It could be hours later (or even days) that the feasting tick will be noticed, as before they become engorged with your blood they can be but the size of a poppy seed, but after a few days will swell to the size of a small pea. And if you do find one, do not panic - they can be removed, with a special tick device or pointed tweezers. Apparently square-ended tweezers are not recommended (as you do not necessarily get all of the tick out with them) although I've never had any problem with them in doing the job, and I've just removed 22 of the little bastards from my body over t...

I was scratching my stomach yesterday morning (it's a bloke thing), when my finger nail detected a hard object inside my navel. It was what I suspected it was - a tick. It certainly didn't want to give up its comfy spot and was a devil to pull off, but looking at the image above I think I got it all. If you find yourself ticked, just pull it off (that enough double entendres!) with a pair of tweezers - do not use a naked flame or neat alcohol. I have now filled said navel with Vaseline (other brands of petroleum jelly are available) because this will apparently do harm to anything living that might be left. There is now one less bit of mystery about me as I have fessed up to having a concave navel and not one of those sticky out ones. It is sore around the site, a bit inflamed, but Lyme's Disease is still not suspected. If I get flu-like symptoms in the next week or two I'll start to panic. By the way, if anybody knows what species the tick is, please let me kn...