It’s been a bad year for houseflies so far. Too cold for the filthy blighters. Last year (yep, the famous ‘barbecue summer’) was the same. Not that I’m complaining. The year before, though, we had two houseflies in (without an invitation, too) so, apart from loads of fly spray and industrial-strength swatters, we bought some sticky fly papers. ‘Gotcha’, they’re called, made by a company in Thetford.

They’re very effective, and extremely sticky. If you do decide to buy some yourself, though, don’t hang them anywhere near your computer: they might not be very good for your files.