Short takes

Can’t seem to wrap up this blog, can I? I actually intend to finish the 30s Britain series. In the meantime…

• Brattleboro, Vermont will make a low-interest rate loan to a landlord for bed bug eradication
• Brick Underground looks into bed bug insurance (nyet) and tax deductions
• We had a visit from someone who remembers Sameth Exterminating!:

I’m looking at a name plate on my desk that belonged tomy Dad: J.I. Cutler that sat on his desk at Sameth for more than 25 years. I loved visiting the office at 200 fifth Ave. every once in a while on Saturday morning when my Dad did his paperwork. He was an outside salesman with many large and famous customers, such as Sunshine Buiscuit, Baraccini Chocolate and the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. Nat Fremed, Sameth’s chemist had a display cabinet in his office of all the specimens of insects, rodentia etc. It kept me busy while Dad did his work. Than as a special treat we might go to the Aldine Club for lunch. Then to a Yankee game, ( the Lou Gherig Yankees.), the Circus, the N.Y. Aquarium or perhaps a Broadway Matinee, one of which I remember was Porgy and Bess. Sameth was a lifesaver to us as it was a job during the Great Depression.

UDPATE:

The Brattleboro Housing Authority, citing their own 20K battle against bed bugs last year and fearing reinfestation, is barring its residents from hosting any of the residents of the bed bug-infested building mentioned above.

This is really happening. If you were wondering or fearing that a person’s bed bug infestation status would one day bar them from entering properties or accessing services. It has been happening for some time.

These pages may be of related interest:

1. Short takes 11/20
2. Short takes 12/4
3. For crying out loud
4. What is happening to the bed bugs in NYCHA properties?
5. A library fine in Denver