Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Eight-legged Beasties...

It's a bit chilly this evening. Raining and windy outdoors. Down to 15c indoors. Came close to putting the heating on but it's not quite cold enough yet. Another half a degree or so...

I officially saw my first false black widow today. It was crawling across the grass where I was working. It was a lot smaller than I imagined. And it moved a lot slower than I'd expected. As a severe arachnophobe, though, any spider is scary. I can, at least, look at a photo of a spider these days, I used not to be able to, but I've been working on trying to be less frantic about the things. I'm still panic-stricken by the real thing - even one as small as a false black widow. That's not its proper name by the way, but it's the one that (thanks to the more sensationalist sections of the British press) it's generally known by. It's properly called the Noble False Widow. But "false black widow" sounds much more scary. (Photo alert for those who still can't bear pictures - several pics on the page the link takes you to).

The press have been particularly ridiculous about them lately. You'd think they were the worst thing in the universe. Yes, they're Britain's most venomous spider - but, while their bite is rather nasty, they won't kill you. And after all, they aren't new. They've been in this country for over 150 years. The red-tops really should be used to them by now, you wouldn't guess that from the headlines though. Especially when the authorities in Gloucestershire closed a school to fumigate it after they were found. "Invasion of spiders forces school to close". Invasion. Really?? Sounds like a 1950s sci-fi B movie.

It didn't make it right across the grass, this really cute little lizard shot out from under a dock leaf and - pow!! - black widow became lizard lunch. Ah well, circle of life and all that...

See you next week, goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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