Yes! I am proud of my house - apartment - and try to present it neatly and keep it clean! And then, SHIT happened!
It's already 17 years since I moved into my latest apartment. A new build located at a great spot in the city of Amsterdam. Because all was new, I was able to get it done the way I wanted. And because of that, I wanted to keep it tidy and clean. Uhm, perhaps also because this was the first one I owned myself - before I always rented before this one - I started to apply all the lessons learned by my mother and grandmother with respect to cleaning.
- Every other week, a surface clean
- Every month, a deep clean of some area
- Every late winter/early spring, a deep clean of my whole apartment
Friends mocked me. They never heard of the late winter/early spring deep cleaning. Whenever I told them I just spend tons of time cleaning all the inside cupboards, they usually laughed a little and asked me: "Why?" I had to endure such responses for many, many years. At the same time, when those friends bring new people to my place, they proudly show my apartment and tell them the stories about how I take care of my place. Interesting, isn't it? I guess, they are kind of proud of me as well.
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A year ago, when I came back from a good week in Graz (Austria), attending a HIVE Meetup (Buzzparty), I got a big ass shock. Sitting in the white leather chair in the photo to the right, at sunset, the evening of my return, I saw a few of these little fly-like bugs flying around. Not in straight lines - not at all - more like wobbling, incoherent movements going up and down, left and right, as if they were learning to fly. I tried to grab one of them, but wasn't able to. Then I smacked one that was sitting on my couch - an instant kill - and saw a kinda powdery cloud coming from under my hand when I released it from the couch right after the smack. "What the F*ck?", I thought. It was time for Mister Google .. and Mister ChatGPT.
Quickly, very quickly, I was served with information that I was dealing with a moth. A clothing moth, to be more precise. Again: "What the F*ck?" This time not just a thought, but also an outloud shout with quite a high volume. Nobody to hear me, except for - what I discovered a little later - quite a few of these clothing moths. Minutes later, I found a hot spot, close to my rubbish bin, kinda under one of my kitchen cupboards. Must have been like 20 of them. Obviously, I took all of them straight into a bag and binned it after having closed the bag tightly.
Back to Google and ChatGPT! Figuring out what I needed to do to get rid of them.
I remember my mother was always taking preventive measures against clothing moths. But I never did. I never saw these beasts. I never had thoughts about them, to be honest. And now, now I had to deal with a whole community of them!
The information I was consuming wasn't very reassuring. Essentially, it told me, these beasts can survive the length of time. Most of their lives, they are larvae, living for months if not years, before they pop and start to fly. Well, the men fly in search of females. The females stay put waiting for some guy to show up and give them babies. Both the female and male flyers know they have to be quick since their flying life is short, super short. A few weeks only. And the larvae? Well, the larvae live everywhere but out in the open. In clothes, in cracks, in hems of curtains, under legs of cupboards. They love the spots that are difficult to reach. They love wool, silk and whatnot. The love dust. I think, they love anything that feels cosy and soft and is protected from light, air movement and humans.
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One hot spot area I found quickly. The one I already mentioned. Though I didn't go as far as looking in the cupboards themselves or checking under the cupboards, I had to remove all sorts of things for this first. Not my main priority. I was scared for my clothes, my couch (cotton) and my carpet in the bedroom (not sure what material, but likely cotton). A quick check in my walking closet was kinda reassuring, no hot spot I could detect quickly. My couch, removing all the cushions, including the seating ones, seemed clean. No golden flyers. The carpet. Well, for that to detect, I had to get my bed out. De-install it. A little project on its own, but it had to be done. When I finally could lift the carpet, I was in for another shock. Parts of the carpet were quite thin. Not at the edges, but inside it, more in the middle, the parts that were more or less in the middle of my bed. Another hot spot. Not that I saw many flyers, but many remnants of larvae, poo and whatnot.
Obviously, the carpet went straight into the bin. Well, it went into a king-size rubbish bin sack and subsequently into one of those big ass underground rubbish containers we have in our streets.
At the same time, I decided to do the deepest clean of my entire apartment that I ever done.
But before starting, I ordered tons of boxes and containers - those plastic ones with an airtight closing lid - to put all my clothes and other stuff in. I needed to contain what was around. Needed to make sure any larvae will not pop and make amok anywhere else. All my clothes needed a wash or a week of freezing - and I have a ton of clothes. All my stuff needed cleaning. All my furniture needed to go upside down. Everything! A month's job, at least - if not more - if I had all the time in the world. But my employer also wanted me to work for them. Therefore, this job would take even longer.
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In the end, I took about three months to get the deep clean done, perhaps even four months. That was a job, man!
And I learned a lot.
Found quite a few places where I found remnants. All of them at spots I skipped during my usual late winter / early spring deep cleaning adventures.
For instance, I never tipped my furniture. I tell you, do it, tip over everything once a year. Each furniture leg can have little cracks, wooden, or even metal ones. You know, metal legs may have felt patches glued under to not scratch the floor. Well, moths love these spots. At the far back of a cupboard we never open. Moths love these areas. Inside the hem of curtains, not on the outside, but the inside, in between the folds, the stitches preventing us from reaching, moths love these areas. Anywhere dust can pile up - which in my case is in any far corner under cupboards since I have an epoxy floor - moths try and find their favourite spots.
Most of them stay close to the ground, though some of them also hide higher up, the larvae, I mean. When they pop and transform into flying souls, they usually are low to the ground. I guess they have difficulties to go higher up. Gravity isn't their most favourite - for humans still mysterious - physics phenomenon.
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Since I learned everything one can learn about moths, I see them everywhere. In many, many places I visit, residential places, even offices, I see them. I guess, I built a radar for this. My eyes are the sensors, my mind is the observer and processing unit. And every time I see them, I wonder: "Shall I inform the one who owns and/or manages the place?" Sometimes I do. And when I do, I give them hints and tips. Some I even offer to help, close friends mainly.
By now, I know why my mother was so into preventing moths from forming communities!
We at HIVE, we relate to Bee's. I wonder if we shall start to relate to moths. They grow big in community size, quickly. And they are not easy to destroy. HIVE isn't easy to destroy; True. But we can do with a quick growth in community size! 🙂🥳🎶
