Wednesday 19 September 2012

Arachnophobia.

Why do blogger have to change things, just when everything is running smoothly?
Well, I am posting this morning's blog in the hopes that it works!

Harvest time, Michaelmas (Sept 29th), the dying of the the year - yes it is that time
again, when there is a smell of decaying vegetation in the air, when the nights are decidedly
cooler and even during the day time there is a hint of cooler weather to come.

It is also the time of those enormous 'harvest' spiders who seem to come out of the
woodwork and gallop across the carpet just when one has settled down for the evening.
In our back sitting room the carpet is a creamy-fawn and spiders show up very well as
they scuttle from the safety of one piece of furniture to another.   There could be spiders
in the kitchen as well, but as the 'carpet' is dark green they are well-camouflaged there.

If the farmer spots one he keeps quiet in the hopes that I don't see it.   If Tess spots one
she watches it warily.    If I spot one I shriek and pull my legs up on to the settee.   Poor old
spider, it isn't doing any harm.   Why is it that so many of us are so terrified in such an irrational way?

I am reminded of a story from my past, which I may have told on my blog before - but if so and you
are a long-time reader, you don't need to read it again.

When we lived in the Midlands, we had a bungalow with a very long garden.   At the bottom of the
garden was another road and a couple of middle-aged spinster sisters who lived there used to very
kindly watch over our house when we went away on holiday.

One year when we returned, they rushed over to tell us that a teenager from higher up the road had been
acting suspiciously at the bottom of our garden.   He had a glass and he tipped something behind the
bushes.   They suspected drugs (one of them was a Special Constable).

My then husband, who worked in the Prison Service and had years of experience with such things, went to
the house where the youth lived and knocked on the door.   The lad came to the door (his parents were on
holiday too).

"Now lad, what were you doing in my garden the other night?" - my husband no doubt used his best prison-voice.


The lad looked very shame-faced but admitted that he had used the well-known glass and postcard method
to collect a spider from the carpet as he was very scared of spiders.   He didn't want to kill it and he didn't
want to put it in their garden in case it came back inside.   So he carried it down to our garden and popped it behind a bush!

My husband told him he could put spiders into our garden whenever he liked!

23 comments:

Helsie said...

Well no-one's welcome to dump any huge spiders in my garden !!!

Bovey Belle said...

It's definitely that spiders-into-the-house time of year again isn't it? I have been deep cleaning my kitchen as I decorate in there, but I think I only have to turn my back and the little blighters come out from behind the beams again.

You have now given me a posting idea, so I hope you don't mind me taking a leaf from your book!

BTW, I wouldn't care to much for folks dumping spiders in my garden either, so I'm with Helsie on this one!

MorningAJ said...

It is that time of year again, isn't it? Not that I have trouble with spiders - even the big ones - because most of the ones that are brave enough to venture into my house encounter Maisie the Wonder Hunter. They don't last long. Small ones are beneath comtempt for her, though. So they tend to end up in my pot plants!

Sorry if my blog photo today gave you any problems. I LIKE spider webs.....

Elizabeth said...

A wonderful tale!
Yes, totally a spider time of year.
Some of them here are a bit dangerous like the wolf spider whose bite/venom causes a big hole in your skin.
Luckily English ones are a bit milder!

angryparsnip said...

Two great spider stories today !
I do not have a great story because when I see a spider especially the wolf spiders we have in Tucson, and scorpions I kill them. In Tucson with all the critters that are always trying to get into my home it is a death sentence.

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

I love that spider story but am ashamed to admit that I'm not even brave enough to catch them in a glass to put them outside. My grandmother's house had thick ivy growing over a leanto against the back wall and huge spiders would get into the house. I once leapt up from sitting on the floor onto the table when one ran in under the door. That was probably nearly 70 years ago - I couldn't do it now!

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Oh dear, I put three spiders out of the window last night. Waiting for the knock at the door.

John Going Gently said...

the autumn migration of these huge hairy buggers continues to scare the bejeebers out of me!
I HATE THEM!

Leanne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leanne said...

hello! (whoops had to delete my first attempt at a comment, sorry!)

I think I am in the minority because I dont mind spiders. I spent my childhood in OZ and i think if you get used to something as a child.. (and lets face it, Oz is known for its spiders!).. you lose the fear.

I posted a blogpost about spiders a couple of weeks back...

http://talesofsimpledays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/realm-of-spider.html

quite magical!

Leanne xx
talesofsimpledays.blogspot.com

H said...

I haven't seen any yet, but my friend posted a photo of a spider on Facebook last night - just before he evicted it to the garden.

Rachel Fox said...

I have had a whole host of different phobias but never spiders... quite like them!
x

Unknown said...

We've had a couple of monsters as well...but it's the Hubster who doesn't like dealing with them :) One was so big that I literally shooed it out of the door like you would a larger animal.

I wonder why they grow so large this time of year? Or maybe it's a different species than the ones that are out in the summer?

Crafty Green Poet said...

that's a funny story! I quite like spiders but hate being surprised by them. The worst instance was once when I picked up a piece of sewing to find a spider in it!

We had huge hunting spiders in Malawi,

The Weaver of Grass said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Weaver of Grass said...

Leanne, if you are reading this, I can't seem to get on to your blog and I would like to visit you.

Thanks to everyone who called - seems that there are plenty of us with that irrational fear of spiders. That is a comforting thought - we are not alone!

Dave King said...

We have a bumper crop this year. Far more than any other. They queue in their thousands for their favourite spots, every window pane has its resident squatters. They've won me over. I used not to like, but now I'm rather fond and extremely fascinated.

Anonymous said...

I'm not fussed about spiders, but if one of those crab-sized ones suddenly makes a break for open country I'll take a step or two backwards! Otherwise, I'm the one with the jar and postcard doing the shifting.

Eryl said...

Wonderful story, and I hope that boy has grown up into a man who is having a lovely life.

I don't mind spiders, but I'd be a bit freaked if a rat ran across the room.

Dartford Warbler said...

I don`t mind spiders at a distance, but big ones in the house -no thank you!

I expect we have a primitive fear of poisonous spiders in the back of the cave, from a long, long time ago.....

Cloudia said...

Blessed are you, gentle souls!


Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
=^..^=

> < } } ( ° >

Hildred said...

I have never minded spiders - I think it must be the weaver in me. Although I am pretty wary of Black Widows!!!

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

Lovely story. I don't know if fear of spiders comes "naturally" or is taught to children by parents, but I am very happy I am not afraid of them. Two summers ago http://leiweedit.blogspot.com/2010/07/goin-fishin.html we had a giant -- and I mean giant -- "fishing spider" in our basement at least 4 inches across. She lived there a while eating crickets and then went her way. I agree -- why does blogger keep messing about with the web site!