Eurghhh!

A lovely, relaxing day........a little potter in the garden, a little housework,  a little resting, a little tennis (Aussie Open - sleep patterns are about to be disrupted big time!), a little sorting photos......

By late afternoon I realised I hadn't actually had the camera out all day.  I collected it from indoors and did a brief reccy of the garden.  I intentionally went looking for a new and interesting bug and it dawned on me that I hadn't yet photographed a spider.  Much as I dislike them, I set about finding one and lo and behold, 30 seconds later I was photographing an orbweb spider hanging from its almost perfect web. They weren't great shots, but hey ho.

That must have been my 'mental preparation' for what followed.

As I said, I really do not like spiders. This is something that I've carried since childhood and something I haven't been able to change very much over the years.  Mum even sent me a special 'tool' to suck them up with one Christmas!  I can at least now accept the 'cuteness' of the tiny jumping spiders and I don't scream when I see one, but my heart always leaps when I come across one of the larger beasts.  

And so it was today.  

Not 10 minutes after coming indoors from the orbweb encounter I lifted something off a shelf in the kitchen and...........Eurghhh! ......a white tailed spider  (even writing this my skin is crawling and I feel almost nauseous)!

I couldn't remember where I'd put Mum's tool, and even if I could have put my hands on it, I didn't feel I wanted to trust the sucking power it had.  Bring out the big guns........my trusty and very sucky Dyson.......but grab the camera and take soem quick pics first.  Keeping a watchful eye - and safe distance - I plugged in then swooped on it.  Gone.  And to be sure it didn't climb out of the vacuum to track me down and wreak its revenge on me, I emptied the canister outside.

This blip will upset me every time I look at it so I may choose not to pass this way again......apologies to those of you who are upset by this sight too.