It started with a pumpkin

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I found this recipe in a rather unreliable cookbook which said you should cut the top off a pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and then fill with sugar.  Keep topping up with sugar.  When the pumpkin has dissolved (?) you strain the liquid and add one quarter of a pint of rum for every pint of liquid and bottle, store for six months before drinking.  I was at a particularly low point when I saw a pumpkin in a supermarket, so I bought it.  It was a mistake.  I am only human. 

However the pumpkin came with a gift - a squashy point I hadn't noticed on the top of the pumpkin which spread as I waited for the green bits to ripen, and which was full of fruit flies.  Before I knew it the kitchen was alive with fruit flies.  As soon as I realised, out went the pumpkin.  The flies didn't follow. 

Despite a lack of care, there isn't that much in my kitchen to latch on to, so the flies have been spreading out and getting everywhere.  They are in the bathroom, they are in the living room - they are driving me nuts!  I keep going over places, but I don't think there is anywhere getting a bit wriggly.  At the moment the fruit flies seem to be congregating at my sink, and that is pretty spartan fare for a fly since I started using the dishwasher and gave the sink a good bleach.  However now when I move the washing up bowl to wash my hands a huge cloud of fruit flies rise up. 

I have recently deep cleaned the litter tray area in the dark place under the stairs.  I have been slowly removing more and more 'stuff' from more and more places.  I thought things were getting more hygienic.  Still there are these clouds of unseasonal flies.

Two problems may be adding to the gift of the pumpkin.  One is that the kitchen door is a south facing white door where I suspect a lot of flies are hibernating, or hanging around in the warm microclimate caused by the regular warm water from the dishwasher/washing machine and the boiler vent just above the drain.  Every time I open the door I am taking a risk of invasion.  The other problem is that the house at the back is empty again.  The last people were lovely but wanted somewhere nicer.  If anything has been neglected, especially since the landlord has been fiddling with the house since they left, flies could be getting in via the gaps between the floor boards, homing in on the relative warmth.

Whatever the reason, I have never, ever had a house so full of flies.  I have been ordering fly repellant, fly killer and the kitchen is now set around with oil of citronella.  I am beyond baffled.  Little bear is back at school next week, depending of course on his green nose.  I am going to have to find the energy for a deep clean.