Once is unkind, twice is downright unfair!

My dislike,nay, almost pathological fear of arachnids has long been documented here, try as O might I just cannot train myself to even tolerate them and the mere sight of one, even at ten paces elicits from me behaviour more fitting of a five year old child than a forty something adult!

I have tried aversion therapies, behavioural therapies even attempted to apply cognitive thinking but all to no avail, I still check my towel every morning for infestation, won't plant my rear end on grass for more than a moment or two, won't park my car in what I consider 'spidery' spots and always put the plug in the bath regardless of the need to retain water in it in a vain attempt at blocking the path of my dreaded foe. I'm kinda used to all this malarky now, it is just routine but still I would love to be shot of this fear. Nothing else concerns me, I would happily handle a rat, fly, daddy longlegs, snake, mouse etc. etc. Each year as winter comes and the spider population retreats I think that next year will be better, I will get a grip....next year comes and I return to a quivering, shrieking heap at my first encounter!

It is thus that yesterday was a very bad day in gemmak's-ville. In the morning, just as PG and I were about to leave to take his car in for repair (yes, he has car problems now) I noticed Ditto looking rather too interested in something. Further investigation showed she had found herself a mouse to terrorize and so I duly waded into the long grass, rescued said mouse and gave her a telling off. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at our destination, I got out of he car and PG shouted at me 'STAND STILL'.......ha, fat chance, I looked down to see the spider from hell wandering aimlessly up my left leg. Despite an audience the panic rose unchecked and as I flapped and screamed my way around the forecourt PG chased after me trying to remove the offending critter. Very funny it may sound, and very funny it may have looked but funny it was not! Thankfully within seconds my hero had dispatched the tormenter to the great web in the sky.

Worse almost than that was the thought that this spider must have latched onto me when I was 'having words' with Ditto and had hence been pottering about my person all the time I had been driving!

As if the mornings incident had not been enough for one day there was more to come. PG is currently working night shift, I'm not keen but someone has to do it and as a rule I don't mind. There is of course the spider issue to contend with though and what happens when he is not here and I am subjected to the company of one of these most horrid creatures.

Last night I found out! My worst spider nightmare was upon me! At around 1am I pottered bleary eyed off to bed, as I walked into the bedroom Ditto was in her usual spot on the end of the bed..............and lying next to her as large as life was another monster spider....ON MY BED, a spider haters worst nightmare. I hesitated for a moment but the thought of this invader moving and my not knowing where it had gone was worse than the fear of doing something about it's presence. In a flash my slipper was off and had landed squarely ontop of it. Ditto, wondering what was going on and frightened by such sudden movement so close to her fled and I was left with a squashed mess I had to steal myself to remove from the bed clothes.....and that has now left an unpleasant stain despite a long bout in the washing machine!

Arghhhhhh....in all my life I am not aware of ever having one of these unmentionable creatures quite so close to me....and then, in one day, not just one but two of my worst and lifetime feared 'spider scenarios' befall me......that is just so downright unfair! Needless to say, today I have been on 'red alert' where minute movements are detected out of the corner of my eye.........and jumping out of my skin at every little bit of fluff! Gah and eekkkk.