Zzzzzzz!

My wife drove us from Wexford to a big get-together in Kilkenny, where her natural father had convened a gathering to celebrate his extended family (he's recently gotten into genealogy and has done some serious research). A beautiful, cloud-sailed afternoon and evening. There was a sumptuous spread, of ham, chicken, salmon, roast potatoes, salads, plenty of beer and wine... and wasps. My wife thought the reason was a nest somewhere nearby, and no doubt there was. But there do seem to be a surplus of the stripy-jerseyed buggers this summer.

While our six-year old capered about the place with his cousins, dividing his time between trampoline and TV, the grown-ups talked politics (etc.) and practiced the Australian wave, endeavoring to confine the buzz to the conversation. Funny what you focus on. I returned to my table to find that someone had decided to set up a number of wasp-prisons, using empty wine and beer glasses. The system actually worked; our area quickly became largely wasp-free. Later, one young man decided that prison wasn't enough and that the captives should be conveyed from there to a place of execution (a red paper napkin) and suffer death by scrunching. But I thought this rather harsh. Wasps perform a purpose in the garden; if pests, they are apparently pest-controlling pests. Why not simply release them after they've served their time, when the human pests are departing?