Bit of a backstory to go with tonights horrors:

I've just gotten back from two weeks of fieldwork, sampling in fields around central Europe.

I'm not really an outdoor person, while I like being outside and working in specific field sites I much prefer being in the lab.

About a week ago I was standing next to a plant in the field and looked down and saw a wave of formica ants running up my trouser leg over my boots, some were even on my shirt by the time I noticed. I freaked the fuck out, shouted and tried to brush them off (well, bash them off, I gave myself a few good thumps) and ran. I've never liked ants since I was a child, I fell into a nest of fireants when I was little and have been afraid of them ever since. I got a good bit of slagging from my colleague but once I was sure they were all gone I calmed down.

That actually happened a few times to me over the trip, I apparently have zero awareness of ant nests, but only once with the giant formica ants (did I mention that their bodies were at least a centimetre long??).

Fast-forward to tonight when I'm lying in bed reading, wearing a tshirt I hadn't worn at all over the trip but was in my suitcase, and I feel something brush along my side under the tshirt. I thought maybe it was a hair, so no big deal, but then I felt a painful pinch so I grabbed my phone and shone the light, and there was one of those giant bloody ants. Again I nearly shat my pants, and I don't think I'll be able to get to sleep now, all I can feel are ants on me.

To all the proper field biologists out there, I salute you. I'm so glad to be back in the lab next week.