If there is a mosquito in the room, it will find my wife Janny. I have seen it over and over again. The welts from bites are real. And while it is probably not the greatest for our health, we have those ubiquitous mosquito coils burning inside on our living room table, but they are in very nice pottery holders of course.

Why is this needed (the coils, not the holders) you ask? The reason is that it is one of those quirks I simply do not understand in the South of France, and across Europe as I understand it for that matter – the absence of screens on windows. I just don’t get it. It is not as if there are no mosquitos here, that is clear. And it is not as if they are less sophisticated that their north American cousins as they find their way in. Again, I just don’t get it.

I have discussed this at length with my dear friend Ivan Grbesic who tells me the same is the case in Croatia. He shared with me that he had even discussed this with a Croat cousin who owns a window manufacturing company only to be told that a screen would cut down the breeze. Sigh.

This past summer, we were hosted at a dinner party of the summer home of our friends. And it was the first time that I had ever seen a screen on a window in France, albeit only one in the washroom. Baby steps perhaps.

I am an idea man. The time for the mosquito screen in Europe has come. Next call is to Phantom Screen to get the master franchise.