Small mercies as insects buck the trend

THE other day I set off for a business lunch in a pub in a country town.

The man I was meeting is of middle years, I don’t think he’d mind my saying that, and fond of motorcycles. It’s not surprising he arrived at the pub before me – he was on a Harley Davidson.

He was sitting at a table in his leathers with his helmet on his lap, polishing the remains of flying insects off the visor. He explained that this was one of the problems with motorbikes in the warmer months of the year. But he said it wasn’t anything like as bad these days. Twenty-five years ago he would have had to stop at least once an hour to clean the visor but there just weren’t as many insects nowadays.