Do I know anyone who lives in Dromana? My parents are thinking of moving down there from Pakenham, so I told them I’d try and track down some local feedback. Their desire to move out there ostensibly has to do with with proximity to the beach. But, if you ask me, they’re secretly keen to get a bit further away from my younger bro, who stops by nearly every evening on the way home from work to eat all their food (they’ll deny that, though).

I do have an acquaintance who’s a real estate agent in Mornington, so I’ve been quizzing her a bit on what she thinks of the property scene over there. She told me a story about one house she came across recently – a wooden cottage that was barely standing, having been almost entirely consumed from the inside out by termites. Selling it was a horror story, she said, as it’s actually heritage-listed, so knocking it down is trickier than it sounds, and no one was very much up for dealing with that.

I get that this would have to have been an isolated incident. Still, I’m feeling that termite inspection services in Dromana are something my folks should probably look into if they’re planning to move there. I guess that story has given me the creeps. It makes me uncomfortably aware of the range of organisms that set up home inside our stuff – the walls of our houses, the food we eat and even our bodies. Eep.

It’s enough to make me wonder if I should have my home inspected for pests. Who’s got a number for a Pakenham pest management company? The closest I’ve come to having to deal with insect infestations was the fabled bed bug situation of 2012. We ended up DIYing their extermination, but it all could have gone down with less hassle if we’d just hired some professionals in to do the the deed. I’m willing to bet that the owner of the cottage in Dromana was thinking the same thing by the time that whole saga had played out.