10th Jan 2012 Road bump-Council? Ants-House or Argentine? Insurance?

Drove home from work tonight, stopped at the gate scanning the immediate area (Has now become a habit), and ewwww there were some ants running around, fast as heck. Looking closer there were hundreds of them lined along the footpath outside my front fence.
I followed the trail which went past my neighbours gate, then walked back towards my gate and they were so far along the path, outside the neighbours on my other side. I didn't go to the end of the trail, as that was enough to start me feeling yukky again.
I rang the Council as the last thing I want is more germs on the property and crawly things. They asked of they were Argentine ants and if so, to ring DOC/ECAN.
So here I was just before with a jar in one hand and a brush and shovel in the other on the main road trying to sweep up ants and put them in a jar. Yeap I know, a blonde with a brush and shovel sweeping the footpath, not something you see every day I suppose! :)

Damn they are so fast, I still cant tell if they are brown or the Black house ant. Put the spy glass up tot he jar, but no still too fast for me. And slippery little buggars, trying to squeeze through the tiniest area to get out.

As if I didnt have enough things to do, I plan on putting a pin through one to check it out closer. We have had to deal with ant critters in our work buildings, and they are not getting in my house if I can help it. Not happy about the thought of them getting into any of my neighbours places. Online it tells me what they should look like, but as I said they are fast little buggars. Ill wait till they are on their death beds, then attack when they aint looking.
In February when I called for an independant Engineering report due to issues with EQC assessors, he had stated then that the city would be infested with rats and ants. Being close to the river I have been lucky in regards to the rat problem, but I reckon its because I have two cats, and they have no mercy. But these ants are going to cause lots of problems if left.
On the subject of the Council, last year I logged a call with them due to a big hump in the road when you enter our work car park. I said at the time it was due to customers complaining and a heap of them have marks/dents on their cars from this hump. It was caused by liquefaction. I followed it up twice, but still nothing. Sitting at work, and a car goes to pull in, then scrape, a loud noise, and a marked bumper. We will not be held responsible for this and I am very surprised they havent sorted this as customers will surely be looking into who is responsible..........
Today was literally a shit of a day, and never gets easier. On my mind constantly, is the thought of how to go forward when land damage report has no date set, how will things go with getting new insurance once my house is demolished (Insurance ceases soon as demolished), how long are we responsible for the land we have moved from, who will pay for the land if told no rebuild able to be done on the land, etc etc. Someone from Nelson was telling us today that he has spent 3 months trying to get insurance to move to Christchurch and buy a house. After all that, the only way he was able to, was to have the current owners transfer their insurance over to him. Man that is tiring just thinking about it.
Right Im off to see if I can pin an ant down :)