Deadly coconuts with added bite

During 1943, being in the royal navy, i was posted to the Far East to join the Americans against the Japanese. When we arrived at Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), we were taken to ratmalana in Colombo district. We found our base was in the centre of a coconut plantation. in Britain, we only knew of coconuts as prizes at the fairground and that they were brown; these were twice the size, with green cladding. As the trees were 40ft high, when the coconuts dropped, you would not want to be standing beneath them. One wag suggested they should supply us with tin hats for our protection. A local told me: ‘That is your least worry.’ i asked why. He explained that when the coconuts fell to the ground, they split open to become a vessel. in the rainy season, these quickly filled up with water, in which mosquitoes laid their eggs. The adults could be seen in clouds above the abandoned coconut. The mosquito is, of course, the main carrier of many diseases including elephantiasis (causing major swelling), yellow fever, which could be fatal, dengue fever and malaria — all with a single bite! With this in mind, our leaders supplied us with nets above our beds for protection. Over the 75 years since, i have often been reminded of those coconuts. The house i live in is Victorian and, every year, queen wasps decide to start a colony and take up residence. i have to get in a pest controller, who assures me they won’t come back. yet every spring the wasps make their return — much like the mosquitoes in the coconuts. if only i had brought one of those mosquito nets back with me, i could use it here in Bengeo. Or maybe i am just attractive to all sorts of flying, biting insects and should become a beekeeper!

Bob Hunt, Bengeo, Hertford.