Spider

As any day before guests arrives usually is, today was a cleaning day.

I started with the downstairs bathroom which was dirtier than usual because John and I have actually been using it regularly. (Our shower and bathroom sink are still clogged. A plumber is coming on Monday.)

There has been a spider living in that bathroom but he doesn't always come out of hiding. When he does though, watch out. He once dropped right into my face while I was trying to brush my teeth and although I generally don't mind spiders I do mind them suddenly appearing in my face. The spider made an appearance while I was cleaning and I decided to take the opportunity to relocate him since my sister-in-law does not like spiders. I caught him and dropped him out the window which was already open to lower cleaning fumes. Several minutes later he caught a breeze and flew back into the bath tub. I removed him once again and this time I shut the window after he was out. Sorry Mr. Long Legs, but this is not the place for you!

After that I turned my office into a bedroom, straightened up the living room and even swept the stairs. My sinuses are irritated and the flat is more or less presentable. Sounds like a typical day of cleaning.

It Had to be Snakes

I pulled weeds out of a small strip of the front garden this morning. I saw two or three spiders but didn't cringe too much since I was wearing my new gardening gloves. Then I pulled this long piece of plastic out of the weeds. Once I had it fully exposed I noticed that it had a distinct scale pattern. Not plastic, a snake skin. Looks like I'm sharing my bits of nature with multiple potentially frightening flatmates.

Young John

John is much younger than this wall:



















England has many spiders. I've tried a couple of times to take pictures of them, but my camera always focuses on the shrubbery! This one looks a lot like garden spiders I have seen before but it is kind of fuzzy.