Friday 13, ferries and fleas

Well it did start with a shiver and shudder for me.. Around 1AM, way too early in the morning.. I was on one of those ferry crossings.. Igouminitsa (a greek mounthful in itself) to Ancona. Later I was to read that Friday 13 has it’s own word. Pareskivydecatriaphobie (Fridaythirteenthphobia). I can read Greek so it didn’t even need a translation and I had no phobia’s until then and now I’m still suffering the consequences and keep checking the calendar for a Friday that is 13. It was nothing like the night of the long knives but it was the night of over 1000 flea bites. How is that possible you are asking yourselves.. Trust me on this one it is..

The ferry was late in arriving. So boarding was late and I went straight to my air seats section to spend the night. A bloke had been chatting me up in the parking area as everyone was restlessly doing walkabout waiting for the cars to board he and kept inviting me to share his night spot. I was already running a mile when the cars started moving up the ramp and after squeezing my car into a tiny little parking I was out, up the stairs and heading for the air seats room 😉 Boring I know.. and I regretted it immensely later.

There was a great shower that no one uses, and I then dressed up in my pj tracksuit look alikes. Thank goodness I had long trouser legs else it could have been 2000. Everyone sleeps on the floor so I chose my corner, snuggled into my sleeping bag liner and before long I was feeling the kreepycrawlies. I should have realised when I saw 2 sets of half eaten plates of food nearby that others had left in a hurry before me. At first of course I just thought is was my imagination until I definitely grabbed one that squished and I knew something was up. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, lifted my Tshirt and they were everywhere. I flicked them all off, went and grabbed my sleeping bag liner and towel. Had a shower then deinfested my sleeping clothes and liner manually. Moved everything to a new spot far away in the middle somewhere where no one else seemed to be swatting at something in their dreams and reinstalled my self. I still had imaginary ones all over but of course that was just the start of the itching..

It took 12 hours to seriously set in. By then I was half way up Italy in a little quaint B&B, installed for the night. Had diner, had a shower and then my body was on fire.. Itchy and red from head to toe. I looked in the mirror and just saw bumps on my forehead, my arms, my torso and ankles. As I said, thank goodness for tracksuit pants, elastic definitely has its uses after all.
I needed a feather and a roman eunich as the only remedy besides scratching was very light tickling. The insect bite cream hardly helped

When I got home I overdosed on anti histamine tablets and 12 hours later I woke up.. Still itching and decidedly red and bumpy but on the mend. 
P.S. I could have posted a horrible picture of all my bites but decided on this lovely one of Ancona instead..

Leave a Reply