Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me!

We are really lucky here. We have very few flies! We may have scorpions and the odd snake. Or two. But apart from a short season when the Manatoka trees are flowering and we get a lot of small flies that seem to blow into the house if the doors are left open, we are really fly-free!

Until we decide to have a braai! (Or barbecue.)

Isn't it funny, there must be one on sentry duty, keeping a look-out for the whiff of braai smoke, because the minute the meat arrives at the table, so do five or six large buzzing flies, or brommer as we call them. Alfie hates them as much as we do because Rob often grabs the trusty fly swat and that sends Alfie into complete decline! We have never, ever used the fly swat on him and we never would, but maybe his previous people did. Anyway, it's very difficult to swat a plate or a glass, so there is much waving of hands above the food while we eat! And a quick uncovering of salad or meat long enough to grab another piece of wors.


On Wednesday we had a friend visit us from the Big Smoke (aka Johannesburg). She was in Cape Town on business and popped up for the day. So we decided to have a braai. It was a lovely day, warm and clear with a hint of a breeze. Perfect in fact. I set the table outside and we lit a citronella candle, just in case! I brought out the salad, the meat arrived..................and so did the flies. Only about three but that was enough! As we were eating and waving away, Gill suddenly said 'If you fill a plastic bag with water and put a coin in it and hang it above the table, the flies will go!'

'How, why?' we asked. She had read it on the internet somewhere but had never tried it. It seemed that the flies didn't like the reflections from the water, but she wasn't entirely sure.

A good test for the bag as well!

So, one Jiffy Ziplock bag and a foreign coin that happened to lying around (as do so many things here), and a piece of string later, we had our 'Fly Goaway'! (My words, not a patent!) Rob hung it above the table and we sat and watched. And waited!

Not a fly in sight!

And then.........the flies were gone! Completely!

Was it the bag filled with water? Or was it the fact that we had actually finished our meal and cleared the table?

We'll never know!