I took photos of my legs yesterday morning when I realised the marks I'd had on my legs the past few months were due to bites.





























And as last night wore on, I found myself scratching more and more at my neck. I realise this is going to be another bite coming through. From what I've read they take a few days to become noticeable, partly because they inject you with something to numb the pain, and partly because it takes time for your body to react and mount a defense. Like I said, my housemate said he hasn't noticed any bites, but from what I've read he will most likely be getting them, just not noticing them.
















I slept on the floor at work last night, it was really uncomfortable. It hadn't been so bad the night before, but now it actually hurting my side. Right now I don't feel any pain though, I only felt it while sleeping - actually it woke me up! I had to turn over.

So at 5am, I went through what is quickly becoming a routine.
- Go home and grab clothes from the closet and put them in the bathroom.
- Drop my dirty clothes on the bathroom floor, shower.
- Check my clean clothes for bedbugs, put them on, carefully move my dirty clothes into my bedroom.
- Get back to work by 6am.

I took some more photos of my legs after my shower this morning. You can see these bites scab over for days or weeks, and itch... not as bad as my neck is itching right now though.
















Every now and again I catch myself and realise "This is terrible." I shouldn't have to deal with this. Then I get really nauseous thinking about everything that's been going on and how I'm practically homeless right now. I can't believe it!

Yesterday I told my family what I was going through, my mother and brother were outraged and said I should go stay with them. I said it's not a good idea, for one because it's more likely that I'll spread the bedbugs to them by accident, and I don't want to do that. But also they are half an hour away by taxi or two hours by bus, and I have to start work at 6am each day before the buses even start - so I'll be paying through the nose in taxi fare. They're only offering because they have to, there is actually no room for me there either, I'd have to be sleeping in their beds! So I don't consider that a workable solution at all, even temporarily.

Yesterday I looked up case law on the internet, and saw that in America a guy took his landlords to court, and they determined the penalty as 45% of his rent during the period of infestation. I think that seems reasonable for the period where I didn't know it was infested - however I think they are 100% responsible for my rent from when I have told them about it.

It's a rental company. You would think that as renting things is the core of their business, they would be aware of things like bedbugs, and check carefully before renting a unit. This assumes the bedbugs were there when my housemate moved in (which was a year or so before me). I can't say except that I've had to put up with them since I moved in.

Here's hoping I won the $40 million lotto last night, or something good happens like we get an exterminator for the weekend. God help them if they still have trouble contacting the owners.