Soprano attacked by bedbugs

It seems that even Hilton hotels are not as clean as the driven snow, and they certainly seem to allow pets. Not that these pets are always friendly. A soprano called Alison Trainer, who was staying in a Hilton Hotel in New York, discovered to her horror that she was not alone in bed. No, it was not that tall, dark, handsome stranger (though it sounds as if she might be looking for one), but a couple of bedbugs. What did she do? What would you do? Me, I would just swat them.

Ms Trainer, however, being quick thinking even when just waking up (she'll be the first out of the hotel in case of a fire), immediately threw on her laptop, typed in the word 'bedbug' and spotted the likeness of her very recent new acquaintances. Obviously her laptop is much faster at starting up than mine. So she put some of them into a ziplock bag (the kind of thing the average American singer always has handy), and she is now suing the hotel for damage to her romantic life and her career - a cool 6 million USD. Nice work if you can get it. Apparently some of the welts, also on her face, might need laser surgery. The surgeon better make sure that he has a very steady hand that day.

It makes you wonder....do people always carry clean, new ziplock bags? How easy are bedbugs to catch - do they not run fast? Did Ms Trainer, in her nightie or not, throw herself all over the room to catch a few? Are bedbugs music critics? Presumably they do not die once they have bitten someone - it would be a bit pointless. Did they do a postmortem on the bedbugs to make sure they died in the hotel and not elsewhere?

Incidentally, I got this story out of the artsjournal for which I have a link on my sidebar - but the stories have not been updated. I may have missed other such gems.