Saturday 12 September 2009

The wasp sting




Back from Rome last night to be faced with a Friday night traffic snarl up of gargantuan proportions. The orbital motorway had tailbacks of 7 kilometers and the main north-south autroute was closed for forty five minutes due to an accident. What usually takes under two hours took four and a half. It was daft of me to book a return flight on a Friday - the pre-weekend en masse exodus from Rome being one of those immutable laws of nature.
Thankfully, rather than drive myself I had arranged to be met at the airport by young Simone with his Mercedes saloon of indeterminate age. He's a good driver, knows cars come equiped with indicators ( which in a most un-Italian way he sometimes uses ) and displays a relatively strict attitude to lane discipline. Most importantly his vehicle lacks the 3 inch high Padre Pio statue that sits proudly in the middle of the dashboard of the taxi firms other car.I don't wish to appear irreligious but this plastic representation deeply unnerves me. With its glowing, battery illuminated eyes it seems to look at me reproachfully whenever I travel under its stern and unwavering gaze. Its as if it can look deep into my innermost thoughts and see that I think that its not a real, Italian sourced, Padre Pio but a recycled, Guangzhu produced model of the hooded figure played by Sir Alec Guinness in the early Star War movies. Quite, quite alarming.
Late at night I found Wilf sitting at the front door looking very sorry for himself. He had trodden on a wasp. Much love was called for and a protracted washing of his foot with bicarbonate of soda in solution - ( a handy household tip of the 'fonts'). It seemed to do the trick. This morning he is fine although again quite nervous over the presence of the hunters who are wandering around the front of the house.

6 comments:

Maxmom said...

Hey Angus
We are glad you made it home safely!
You should try our country for traffic jams at the moment. With the 2010 Soccer World cup looming just over the horizon, our abode is abuzz with transportation 'upgrades'. We are holding thumbs that it will be all worth it.
So sorry to hear about Wilf's paw. One of our pooches too had to be taken to emergency last night...
Oh dear, the joy and worry of canine ownership!
Have a happy day...and happy planning!
Lots of licks
MAX'S MOM IN SOUTH AFRICA

kks said...

poor wilf....such cute pics of the dogs!

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

Glad you got home safe and sound.

Hope Wilf's foot is feeling better this morning.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Poor thing. Apple was once stung by a bee whilst on a walk with us and she simply sat down, held up her paw, and refused to go a step further. My husband had to carry her the rest of the, rather long, way. Girls can be so dramatic.

Angus said...

Max - You can always count on Wilf to be an exceptionally bad patient.

kks - yes poor Wilf and he knows it and shows it!

RCS&J - Emergency over

PT&E - Both our brave boyz clearly have a low pain threshold - Apple would get on just fine with them! T

KB said...

Poor poor Wilf. I once stepped on a wasp, and I can attest that it really hurts! I'm glad that he's not allergic to them.