Stuart the green shield beetle.

Now I have six days off work (I've waited for that for ever, it seems) I will try and update some things from my summer as well as current stuff. One thing which I wouldn't want to forget is the appearance of Stuart, my pet beetle.


Before you go crazy, Mr.Landlord Matama, sir, it's not exactly a pet. In about June or July when the weather started hotting up I was out on my balcony one morning before work and I noticed a little insect sitting on my air-con pipe. I took a photo of it-it was a grass-green shield-shaped little chap and quite pretty really. Then, I bought some plants in the summer for about 100 Yen each (44p, hehe) and kept them on the balcony.

One plant is really pretty, with shiny silver leaves with a purple underside. I soon noticed that the beetle had moved onto one of the leaves of this plant and seemed to set up home there. And so our friendship began. Most days I'd pop out and have a little glance, and did the beetle move? No! In fact, it stayed in the SAME SPOT on the SAME LEAF until around November, when I brought the plants indoors as the temperature dropped.

Then, as he came inside he got restless and moved onto my kitchen floor, where he was when my boyfriend came to stay for a second time. Terry christened him "Stuart" and so he is today. We bought some flowers and made him move home again-he's still sitting on them now, despite them being long dead. I shall let you know what scrapes he gets into in the future...watch this space.