DeeKnow’s Grotto

Roaches for Dinner - Kym and I went out for dinner last night to one of the Thai restaurants we have in Hamilton. There are only three of them so I wont name names (but if U email me I'll tell you which one :-)

We'd just ordered drinks and were poring over the menu, chatting as you do, when out of the corner of my eye I spot a cockroach making its way down the wall beside Kym.

It was only a relatively small one, but Kym is one of these chicks who hate creepy-crawlies and reliably lets out a blood-curdling SCREAM whenever she spots a bug within spitting distance.

Not wanting to create a scene I calmly executed a diversionary move saying...'Oooh look at that' pointing away from the rapidly approaching roach. As she looked away I leant over the table past her and flicked the roach off the wall and down the aisle of the restaurant.

She looked back and flinched instinctively asking in a suspicious tone "what was that?"

After telling her, calmly, our immediate reaction was to consider doing a runner, but then as I mentioned to Kym, you get roaches in restaurants in Thailand all the time, so whats the big deal.

Kym accepted that our hosts were probably only encouraging the roach population so that us customers could enjoy a more authentic Thai experience. So it was that we stayed on, ate our dinner, and shared the experience with the couple next to us just before we left them to enjoy theirs.

Some facts about roaches:

• They've been on Earth for over 300 million years, live for 90 days to six years (depending on the species). There are around 6000 known species worldwide and around 360 NZ species.
• Cockroaches have two brains - one in their head and one in their tail  as a result they react to danger faster than the blink of an eye. They don't need both to survive.  Therefore cockroaches can remain active after their heads are removed.
• In some cockroach species, females can reproduce on their own, without any input from males.
• Cockroaches break wind every 15 minutes and continue to release methane for 18 hours after death. Insect flatulence accounts for 20 percent of all methane emissions on earth, placing cockroaches among the biggest contributors to global warming.

5:11:20 PM