The "White-Ant Activity-O-Meter" has been running hot round Roxburgh Ave, Thirroul in the last couple of months. Last week we were getting all of our rubbish together in neat piles on the front footpath for our bi-annual council cleanup and we decided to get rid of the large pile of old palings that the original owners had left and which we hadn't looked at. Inside it all was a mess of termites and their mud trails - it gave me the willies. When I lived in Surry Hills (in the same house that the first two victims of the back packer murderer eventually stayed in, mind you!!!) I was walking through a small laundry section near the back of the house and heard this scratch scratch scratch scratch scurry scurry scurry from the wall. It went on for about ten minutes and I got very spooked. So, like any sensible male, I picked up a large hammer and had a go at it. Underneath the plaster was a veritable river of termites that flooded the small room in no time flat. The two trusty cans of Baygon (kept handy for cockroach attacks - but that's another story) were used up in no time flat and the little buggers finally went away. It took another hour to clean it all up and then another hour in the shower before I felt clean enough to live. None of that happened this time, though  - we just burnt the bastards and kept warm at the same time.