The TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC thread :)

[Lilac]

Me too

I saw something horrible yesterday, well a pic, it was a wasp killing a honeybee....maybe thats something thats not helping the decline in numbers ???

I'd just killed a huge wasp that came into my room and wondered why it was so big when i reckoned it should only just have hatched (unless it was a queen) anyway, i googled and saw several pics of the b****** wasps killing bees

I should add, i have a wasp phobia, i'm terrified of the bloody things, been for hypnosis to try to control it, but it didn't really help...

i once fainted in a shop when one landed on my shoulder, took a display stand down with me, was really embarrassing

[jimmybat]

it is terrifying I too have this unrashonal fear of the bloody things but i can just see you in the co op next to a massive pyramid of bean cans and you legs sticking of the middle of them .... sorry just had that mental pic ture made me chuckle even tho i know it aint funny sorry

James

[jimmybat]

Oh! and thats me signed too

jmaes

[Scylla]

Apr 22, 2010 11:06:55 GMT Lilac said:

I'd just killed a huge wasp

I'm sure I heard that we're being invaded by big continental wasps

I should add, i have a wasp phobia, i'm terrified of the bloody things

I've never been in the phobic state but I used to be terrified of them too - I got my legs covered in severe bruises from jumping out of a garden lounger with wooden arms, every time a wasp came near me. It was the hot-hot-hot summer of '76 The bruises were more painful than any sting would have been and they looked hideous for weeks.

I did see a documentary that said "wasps have their good points" so have tried to be kinder to them. I take a glass tumbler and card to both bees and wasps and put them out the window.

However (OK, I'll finish soon ) my brother has discovered a fly-paper supplier and has dangled it all over my flat, and of course it doesn't discriminate Last summer it caught lots of wasps

Everyone's got a right to live, I tell myself.

You've got a naughty imagination, Jimmy, but thanks for signing
Thanks for signing, everyone

scylla x

[Lilac]

big continental wasps if that's true, thats my summer ruined then.... it wouldn't surprise me Scylla, cos i've heard many people commenting on the number & size of them recently, you don't normally see many wasps till much later in the year...

Don't know if anyone is familiar with this place, it's kinda like a uk version of DX, i've ordered from them 3 times and have been pleased with my orders, i got a compatible battery for my Dell laptop from them for £38 in November and it's doing well...

delivery isn't the fastest, but all prices include delivery and they've a BOGOF on now...

www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?&filterwords=buy+1+get+1+free&x=0&y=0&filterwordsalldb=1&r=20100423

edit...Just noticed wot James said oh but yer bad...lol

[jimmybat]

it is no topic and off topic but didnt know where to put it Just got an e-mail from ecf

If you have not already heard, electronic cigarettes have now been banned in the State of New York. Bill A9529 has passed which prohibits the sales of electronic cigarettes to minors and adults alike.

sad
James

[Scylla]

Well, it's e-cig related so you could have started a new thread.

My reaction, reinforcing your "sad", is "tragic"

scylla

[Scylla]

GOOD NEWS FOR LILAC, sorta ???

Last night I was surfing with {{{Chris Packham's}}} UK nature TV progs on in the background, and my attention was caught by a feature on WASPS What a coincidence.

Guess what? Only the females have stings So what you do is, pick one up gently between thumb and forefinger and closely examine its antennae - if they are longish and thickish it's a male, whose only purpose in life is to find a queen to copulate with - and no matter how it bends its little bum to try to sting you it will fail cos there's no sting in there

If you get stung, you've picked up the wrong one. Lord knows how Chris managed to stick his hand into a hedgerow and come out with a male ???

European Wasp info from an Australian site (they were introduced into Oz in the 1950s):

If a European wasp is aggravated it may STING. Unlike the bee, a European wasp can sting MULTIPLE times. If left undisturbed the European wasp is NOT AGGRESSIVE to humans or other animals.




I've just remembered that in 1989 I had a wasps' nest on the wall outside my bedroom - they used to wander in just before dawn if I had my light on, so I had to keep the windows closed - and you could see them buzzing against the window panes trying to get in, masses of them Those were the good-old days when Lambeth Council would send their pest controllers around for free, they destroyed 2 nests!

scylla

[Chrissie]

Lol Scylla @ checking to see if the wasp is male or female so you will know if it can sting you or not

[jimmybat]

i seem to always get the stingy ones its no fair .....So you ARE telling me the males are long and thickish Hmmmm ok I AINT getting that close I am so sorry to say that i am so terrified of the little beggars that if one flys in the car i will crash the thing to get out of it and may a time wasp and paper have came into contact with great force
James

[Scylla]

I can't believe I've got away with that appalling ramble - Lilac may never speak to me again. But you know what I get like in the night

scylla

[Lilac]

Just seen this...lolol...Scylla, you are mad if you think im gonna try to pick a wasp up......looking at that pic, hell, even seeing the word in print, makes me shake....cos i've seen so many lately, i go into instant panic mode at the slighest movement that might be a wasp...

i recently discovered why i is that wasps really become pests later on in the summer, whereas they mind their own business earlier on...

when there are larvae in the nest, the adult wasps feed them, in return they secrete a sweet substance which the adults love...

once the larvae have left the nest, there's no sweet stuff for the adults, so thats why they buzz around drinks cans, etc, looking for sugary stuff...

and to say they're not aggressive to humans is a load of poo, tbh, when they buzz around me and follow me when i run away from them, i just know the little bitches(cos i now know they're female) wanna sting me...

[Scylla]

(1) I'm so glad we're still frenz, Lilac

(2) You won't see me cuddling up to a wops either

scylla

[Lilac]

Frenz for eva Scyl

[Chrissie]

I've also heard that wasps get more aggressive later on in the summer due to feeding off windfall fruit that has started to rot & ferment. Lol, I guess their is no reasoning with a drunk wasp