TICKED OFF

Woke up this mornin'
Got that tick in mah leg blues
Oh yes, ah woke up this mornin' 
With that blood suckin' tick in mah leg blues.

Which is unusual as I tend to associate ticks with the country. The first time I saw one it was stuck in the neck of a farm dog which I reported to the farm manager (who happened to be my mother's second husband which explains why I was on the farm in the first place). This time I woke up and found the tick in the side of my right leg just below my knee.

I went downstairs to let cats in/out, then lit and blew out a match and applied the hot end to the tick's body. It twitched but didn't let go. So I went outside into the garden, struck another match and let the flame lick at the tick (and my leg). This time it squirmed and loosened its grip enough for me to knock it off, leaving a red swelling behind. Then I fed the cats and myself (cereal for me in case you were worrying -I don't like the taste of cat food) and went to look up ticks on the Net.

I do have a back garden and am regularly on my knees picking up smelly cat poo from the soil but I didn't do that yesterday. I did, however, take a trip to the countryside to pick up a very heavy and old chest of drawers for sale in our shop. Made a nice change from city driving, to drive along winding roads and through avenues of trees, over rickety bridges, by the side of railways tracks (an intercity train even hurtled past at the moment). Shame about the torrential rain but you can't have everything. Even though I hadn't been to (or even heard of) the tiny place I was visiting (which is very close to HM Prison Durham) I found it easily enough. Turn right off the A690, turn left, turn left, turn left again over a distance of several miles and there you are. I have to do that many left turns to get to the main road at the top of my street (we live in a cul de sac). But as I was never in any contact with soil it couldn't have been that.

It is, however, possible that it came in on the body of one of our nine cats so I'll be checking them very carefully.

Oh yes, I looked up ticks on the Net. As a result I'll be checking the swelling carefully over the next few days to see if it turns into something like a bullseye. (I may also develop muscle pains and fever.) If it does, I have Lyme Disease (early stages) and at which point I'll contact my doctor as it's a particularly nasty thing to have if left untreated.

I'll let you know.