A blog from a woman on a journey of discovery.

Please leave this blog if you are under 18 or easily offended.

Monday 11 April 2011

A question of perspective

Spiders are something I am terrified of..........I can cope with snakes, revolting great big jungle cockroaches, bugs that look like Darth Vader's brother after a nuclear mutation episode, wriggly things with millions of legs, stick insect  that just seem somehow to be revolting.
I can cope, at a push, with leeches, although it does make my stomach turn a little when they are attached to a bit of my anatomy.

I almost like woodlouse...but the one thing I just cannot cope with is spiders.

I can cope just about with money spiders, providing they don't go on my face, and I can get them off me as soon as possible, but anything that has eight legs and is bigger than a "full stop" (period for you Americans) brings me out in a panic.

My stomach feels like its falling out as it sinks in a nano second, at the same time if feels as if it is coming up to my mouth as I feel sick, my heart pounds in my chest threatening to breakout through my ribs, my skins crawls as if covered by a million ants, and I sweat...not a lady like glow or ever a little perspiration...oh no....great big drops of sweat form on my brow, run down my back............and I am filled with the desire and need to run away as fast as I can.

There is just one problem, well two actually.
 
The first is that I cant run. This is not because  of all the aforementioned bodily changes happening all at once, but because if I run away and leave the room, then I will not know where the spider is and then when I return to the room, it could appear at any minute............dropping down onto me...creeping up from behind...some sort of armed assault from the flank, and I will not be able to relax until I know exactly where it is.

The second problem is that I cannot kill spider. I have no problems with cockroaches, I have not problems with mosquitoes.....but anything else.............and I cant do it...........partly because they are creatures, but mostly its because of the icky sounds they make when it crushes or squelches.

So anyway...there I was faced by a big spider on the wall...the wall that I was about to walk past, the wall that I couldn't walk past...the wall I was left staring at out of the corner of my eyes, if that is possible. I don't want to look at the spider, just know where it is.
 
How did I get round the dilemma?

How did I continue on my journey.

 I managed to grab hold of a passing colleague...and hold them in front of myself like a human shield and shuffle sideways....all the time keeping one eye on the spider. The colleague commented on my sweaty hands, the heat coming from my body and the grey pallor to my face.....I mumbled something about not being sick, about not having a fever, about being fine and I dashed off to get on with work.

I mean hadn't he seen the plate sized spider with the ferocious teeth waiting to leap on my and poison me with it fangs........................no?

Ok maybe he saw the one about the size of a big pea...half asleep in the afternoon sun...........

Its just a question of perspective I think.

6 comments:

  1. Was it you who was afraid of spiders a few days ago? It's such a shame and I am sorry for you because spiders are really fascinating creatures. We have plenty here and the big web-making spiders spin webs whose anchor points can be more than 12 feet apart, How do they know where to put their main supporting threads? It's a real mystery to me. And it's so interesting watching them creating a new web, going patiently round and round, attaching the thread to the spokes at exactly the correct distance (they use a leg to measure the distance). They are masters of space.

    Sometimes there will be big guardian spiders in the house, very fast moving, ready to catch some of the most annoying insect pests - even cockroaches.

    Then outside, there are small jumping spiders. Sometimes they will jump on to me, but first they look up at my hand with all their eyes (8 I think) measuring the jump, then - flip! they arrive on my hand. They look at my eyes too, it seems.

    One common kind is a bright green; another is shaped like a beetle or a tiny turtle with a spiky shell; another kind looks exactly like an ant and you might well mistake it for an ant until it jumps and shows a thread.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Malcolm,
    Some really interesting facts, and as an ardent collector of facts I will add them to my repertoire to be quoted to poor unsuspecting soul at a later date. I agree, fascinating...but scarey, I too have jumping spiders, one of which did bite my bum one day.lol I checked it out on www.whatsthatbug.com you may find it an interesting site.
    Thanks for your comment,
    HSxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Imagine my horror, the day I discovered three little spider legs in the corner of my toddlers mouth. Just the legs...

    He is 24 now and still reminds me of the day mommy threw up, then scrubbed his face raw.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a terrible feeling ~ that would be miserable. I have a mild bug phobia, and a moderate mouse phobia, but I have cats to keep mice away, so I don't have to move, and have learned to deal with the bugs. But I totally feel your pain.

    aisha

    ReplyDelete
  5. littlemonkey.....I laughed out loud when I read your comment...reminded me of when my daughter used to rubs worms into her face. Thanks for the comment.
    HSxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. aisha,
    phobias are horrid........I once had a little family of mice living in a drawer in my house and the cat just walked past it on a regular basis on the way to her bowl....You have my sympathy. Thanks for the comment.
    HSxx

    ReplyDelete