Middle NZ: Big fright from night light

A cockroach has an uncanny way of escaping, scurrying under things that look impossible to scurry under. Photo/File

Counting sheep didn't help me fall asleep . . . then when the sensor light came on!

I had quite a fright on Sunday night. Well actually it was the early hours of Monday morning.

It was one of those nights — I use my phone as an alarm and in the wee hours of the morning it beeped. It woke me.

Was that a text? Who would be texting at this time of the night/morning? Is something wrong? I'm not looking at it. But what if something is wrong?

I'm still not looking at it. But... ? So against my better judgement I reached over and looked.

Unbelievable. I had put an item for sale on a site called market place and someone was asking if it was still available.

Are people still on their phones at 12.30am on a Monday? Obviously yes.

So that was it. I couldn't get back to sleep. My mind went into overdrive about everything from work to family to Christmas to ... on and on it went.

I tossed and turned, went through the alphabet naming two girls and two boys. That usually works for me because I get stuck on X and the next thing I know it's morning.
Not this time. I skipped it and carried on to the end.

I tried counting sheep but couldn't conjure any up in my mind's eye.

I tossed and turned some more.

Then — the light in the hallway came on. It's a sensor light.
I froze. Then nudged Mr Neat — once, twice. I hissed wake up. The light has come on in the hallway.

To be honest I was really scared.

It took Mr Neat a few minutes to understand what I was saying.

In the meantime I reached over the side of the bed and grabbed my hairdryer. It's was the only thing within reach. Probably not much good in a fight but better than nothing,

Mr Neat tiptoed to the door and peeped around into the hall. He ventured out with a torch behind his back. 'There's nothing there,' he said.

Something must have set off the sensor, I replied. Check the house, I instructed from the safety of the bed, still pointing the hairdryer at the door.

"Ahhhggg," said Mr Neat.

What!!!!

"There's a dirty big cockroach on the wall. That's what would have set the sensor off."

I did think about blasting that bug with my hairdryer for giving me such a fright but then I remembered the smell of the one that was cooked in my toaster.

Linda Hall is Hawke's Bay Today's premium content editor.

So the horrible thing was duly disposed of. They seem to be everywhere at the moment and I really can't stand them. They have an uncanny way of escaping, scurrying under things that look impossible to scurry under.

Apparently there are three types of cockroaches that are common in New Zealand, the German, the American and the Gisborne. I have no idea what type this one was and I'm really not interested in looking at photos to ID it — I'd rather eat a lemon.

Any way, the rest of the early hours of the morning were spent with more tossing and turning. Murphy's law, I just dropped off to sleep and the alarm went.

That really bugged me.

• Linda Hall is Hawke's Bay Today's premium content editor.