For a week or so there were a lot of flies clustering. I believe that this was due to weather weirding. For months it was too warm, and dry, so they didn’t breed as voraciously. Eventually the weather changed temporarily so there was an infestation for those with bad luck.
During this time I noticed that a fly or three tried to fly into the fridge. Flies tend to slow down and hibernate or die when they get too cold, so they might be full of enthusiasm and optimism when they fly in but once the door is closed they’re trapped. The light goes out so they think “bed time” but they also realise “Wait, this is a very cold place, and all of the food is covered so I have no food or drink.”
Today I opened the fridge door and I noticed a fly, lying on its side, either dead or in suspended animation. I disposed of it. I was thinking “Come on stupid fly, fly out, I don’t want you to stay in the fridge”, for obvious reasons. I suspect that yesterday or a day earlier a fly did escape my vigilance and did fly into the fridge. It then got trapped and died.
This Autumn feels paradoxical. On the one hand leaves have started to turn. On the other we still have heat. It’s hot enough for flies and other insects to still be around. When I was standing in the middle of a road, directing people at a criterium bike race, I noticed heat haze above a field.
The fly was silly, but humanity was silly as well, for warming up the planet, rather than switching towards more environmentally friendly sources of renewable energy.
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