Carte Blanche

I'M NOT sure what "roach bombs" are exactly, but they sound as though they demand respect. When Cheron Brylski set off six of them in her 10ft by 8ft kitchen in New Orleans last week, they exploded and destroyed the apartment, where Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire.

Cheron's cockroach problem must have been dramatic in its own right: the recommended ratio is one bomb for a 600 sq ft space. The blast blew out windows, brought down the kitchen ceiling and blew the front door off the building and on to a passer-by. Just the sort of domestic scene that Stanley Kowalski would have enjoyed.