SHOULD YOU WEAR SHORTS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE?
I went shopping today and forgot to bring my usual handbag. This omission led me to consider the role of the store cards I had left behind at home. I didn’t have my Costa card with me and that meant I couldn’t register for a free drink but more tellingly, it was the lack of my Nectar card at the till at Sainsburys which meant that my shopping cost 10% more than it would have done if I had the card with me. When I used Tesco recently, my lack of a store card there meant that nearly everything I bought cost me a pound more. I was horrified!
What immense power these cards give the supermarkets, with their insidious analysis. No need for buy two, get one free anymore. Shoppers’ purchases can be guided by the Nectar discounts which can be considerable, often in the region of 25%. Not only that, the cards themselves give a detailed profile of individual shoppers’ habits. As I move around, shopping in national stores, I am letting Big Brother know exactly what I am up to – when I shop, where I shop and what I buy.
How much better to shop at a farmer’s market – fresh, traceable food, no additives and no store card logging my every purchase as well as tracking me. It’s likely that the seller at the Farmer’s Market also personally made the product, and will give you a free tasting before purchase. You will also save money, and you are likely to only purchase what you needed in the first place. Local farm shops like our nearby Sustain are also a good alternative, where you can shop and sit down for a coffee and look out at attractive countryside. It’s like a breath of fresh air!
You get welcome fresh air walking around the countryside, but if you’re unlucky you might get much more. I’m talking about ticks! Ticks have eight legs and are closely related to spiders and mites. They are opportunistic feeders and lurk in bracken, long grass and tall plants. Today’s fashion for wearing shorts, not trousers when out and about makes us far more vulnerable. Ticks lie in wait for a host to attach to; they don’t mind if it’s a dog, cat, cow, deer, rodent, bird or human. When they detect a host, they launch themselves and hold on to its hair with the hooks on their legs. They can attach themselves painlessly and therefore unnoticed. Like a vampire, they want to suck blood. Once attached, they burrow their way under the skin and can remain for up to 72 hours.
Ticks can be extremely dangerous creatures, as anyone who has been unfortunate enough to experience Lyme’s disease will know. The common kind of tick that’s found on pets is the main carrier. In humans, early signs are like flu, and may include tiredness, headaches and a high temperature. Lyme’s disease in dogs leads to lethargy, appetite loss, fever, swollen joints and the animal may look lame. Cats can suffer a milder form of the disease. An early indication is a red ring-shaped rash around the bite. Quick treatment is essential so it’s always important to check with a vet for your pet, or a doctor for yourself if you experience a headache, rash or joint pain.
If the disease is left untreated, effects can be devastating, causing severe pain in joints which may swell up, together with headaches, memory loss, dizziness, heart palpitations, problems with the nervous system, a stiff neck and loss of muscle tone in the face.
Another rarer disease that can follow a tick bite is Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE) which is caused by tick bites from another species of tick and has similar effects. The virus can spread to the tissue covering the spinal cord and brain and cause long term complications.
It’s recommended that the tick is removed within eight hours of the initial bite with a tick removal tool, and the site disinfected once the tick has been fully removed. You can also use tweezers to grasp the tick as close to your skin as you can and pull vertically. Not all ticks are disease carriers, but the precautionary principle is the rule of the day, To prevent ticks having access to the body, you should wear long trousers tucked into your socks, avoid brushing against long grass, bushes and bracken. You could also wear a tick repellent spray. Ticks dislike flowery smells like lemon, orange, peppermint and lavender. If you’ve been in a suspect area, it’s good to have a thorough shower at the end of the day.
Asulox, which was the only effective herbicide for bracken control, has now been permanently withdrawn in Europe and the UK. This has led to the organisation, Farmers Network, starting to trial a non-chemical approach. This is an ingenious trial where cattle are shut in bracken (and tick) infested areas to trample the bracken and hopefully either destroy it or restrict growth. I did wonder about the abundant ticks which would not doubt welcome this new feed supply and how these ticks would affect the cattle, as cattle are susceptible to tick borne disease with similar outcomes to humans.
Last year, we saw a freshly killed deer on the road and “rescued” it for venison, putting the carcase into the boot of our car. Back home, we offered our son in law the opportunity to have some free meat. His reaction was extreme “Get rid of it at once and don’t touch it with your bare hands. It’s likely to be crawling with ticks.”
The more I learn about ticks, the keener I am to avoid them. So maybe I won’t wear shorts any more or invite my pet to share the sofa with me.
THE END