Advice for Remy, Day 174. Insects are useful but very annoying - learn how to keep them away. If it weren’t for swarms of insects flying and crawling and swarming everywhere, summer would be great. Well, if you take away the heat. And the sticky nights. And the crowds of people, beaches, crowded roads, expensive tourist destinations, and crowded sweaty offices. But apart from all of that, I’m generally a big fan of summer. Huge. I’m not, however, tolerant of insects. I’m excessively prone to being attacked by bitey things (mosquitos, fleas, sharks probably) and end up covered in dozens of huge, angry, red bites when others receive hardly any. I’ve never been stung by anything - a bee, a wasp, a hornet, a PPI agent - so I’m excessively terrified that I’ll soon find out I’m allergic to stings and expire at the hands of a winged beast. And I’m currently fighting the eternal battle of wanting the patio doors open while I work for the lovely cool breeze, but hating the swarms of flies buzzing around me ceaselessly now I’ve seemingly given them an open invitation to occupy the house en masse. There are a few things I’ve learned over the years however which can help keep them away. Many insects hate citrus, so using something like Original Source real lemon shower gel genuinely helps. And we’ve this year taken to filling the decking area with plants that insects hate - herbs such as basil, chives and mint, and this particularly fetching mosquito repellant, erm, something (I can’t remember what it is) which has the double bonus of also looking very nice. Now I don’t know whether they’re all working so far, or whether there just are no mosquitos yet, but either way I’ve not been bitten so far this summer, which is a feat worthy of celebration. So we’ll done insects for pollinating our plants, but please leave me in peace and I won’t have to swat you quite so often.