We've been battling ants for the past fortnight, and it looks like there's an interregnum at last. I've learnt all sorts of stuff I didn't know, such as: CSIRO does a nifty line in household hints, including some truly frightening DIY chemical production ideas ("borax is no more harmful than other household products such as bleach..."); ants don't like powders of any description, even the otherwise innocuous talcum; ants really, really don't like pyrethrins, so flea powder for cats makes an effective ant killer when placed near entries to nests.

Speaking of which, ants are also apparently attracted to electrical currents and will nest inside powered devices. Such as, just to pick an example, CD players. Say, our CD player. No one is entirely free of insect horrors - some people get the willies from spiders, some from snails, some from centipedes. I learnt this week that my primal horror scenario is a portable CD player packed to the point of inoperability with ants, ant debris and ant hatchlings.

Worst of all, the player hasn't recovered and I now can't much stand Gillian Welch, whose Soul Journey was in the machine when I discovered my formic friends.