Bat Out Of Hell

No, this is not a reference to the classic Meatloaf song of the 80's (although it was a good, it wasn't quite as good as Meatloaf and Cher together doing Dead Ringer for Love .... Ah, Alan Preece, those were the days!) Anyway, I digress. Tom and I now own a 'bat out of hell.' This is the only way to describe this modern torture device that lets you systematically fry mosquitoes and other such nuisances like big fat black flies that seem to be taking over our new apartment (well, we had three in tonight... but I am the person that complained we had an infestation of roaches in NYC when we had two in the kitchen...) The bat resembles a child's tennis racket and our very sophisticated version, costing approx $8, has a torch in the handle as well as a button that sends a shock through the bat to literally 'fry' anything you decide to swat. After much practice, I have decided that it fries mosquitoes instantly, but fat flies take a little longer and play dead, stunned for a while, then fly off to die and be fried again elsewhere. It is pretty barbaric especially as the victims frazzle quite visibly on the bat and I could even smell burning after one of Tom's particularly violent outbursts with it. We will be bringing them to the UK and US as gifts, especially for the children, who would have hours of fun with them!