B****y Midges

One should always be careful for what one wishes.  Over the last few weeks I've been very conscious that one of the dangers of wishing that the wind would abate was that the midges would appear to torment us.  Well today (written on Sunday) the wind was a friendly Force 3.  That was comfortable but sufficient to keep the midges at bay.  However about an hour ago the wind swung round from the Northerly sector to the Southerly sector at Force 1 after a short period with no wind at all.  In fact as I write this the wind has ceased and the gauge is registering zero.  The consequence is that the midges are everywhere and we are confined to barracks.  Actually 'we' are not.  David and Molly are out there.  Molly is obviously oblivious and David's need for little white cancer sticks is greater than his dislike of the little annoying bitey creatures.

I reached for my trusty Midges in Scotland by George Hendry.  A must read for anyone coming to or living in the Highlands if only for the humour of which this cartoon is a taster (used on the basis that the copyright holder won't mind given that I'm giving this plug and using it as a 'quotation' for the purpose of honest comment).  The work is otherwise an exceptionally readable treatise on how and why the midge plays such a dominant role in the ecology and human life of the Highlands.

When I first came to live on Lewis in the mid '70s I was told that more people left the Islands because of the midge than because of unemployment, that every midge represented a sin of mankind, and that for every midge killed a hundred came to seek vengeance. I didn't believe such superstitious nonsense.  But do you know what?  On a day like this I realise that it wasn't superstitious nonsense after all.


These days however when the midges get bad even the hardy road workers wear midge protection clothing such as the Midge Head Net or Midge Jacket which were probably inspired by this Punch cartoon from 160 years ago.