Henry in the shower
For a couple of weeks I have had a companion in the bathroom (there is a drought and a heatwave at the moment in the UK, so "Save water, shower with a friend!" and all that). Anyway, his name is Henry, and he is a spider with a span as big as Maggie's hand (Maggie is 1) who lives in a hole behind the toilet. Despite my initial efforts to persuade him that there are better places than a hole behind the toilet to live in, he has remained. Every morning I see him out of his hole next to the loo, and by way of greeting I tap my foot a couple of times, and by way of answer he runs back into his hole. This worked fine until yesterday morning, when I tapped my foot, he ran out towards me waving frantically. Not at all the required response - I thought it a little rude, actually. However, just to teach him manners (perhaps he is a young spider) I reiterated my greeting with an old toothbrush, which had the desired effect. But I did wonder if perhaps it was getting nearer the time for Henry to move on. The trouble is that he is so quick, and I don't have a chance to use any other means to convince him of greener pastures.
Last night when I got home, I got a big surprise. Not only had my toothbrush tapping failed to teach Henry manners; it seemed to have made them worse! He had decided to graduate from a hole next to the toilet (I could have told him there were better places for a spider to live) to my bed! Talk about cheeky! Enough is enough, and I decided that Henry's Big Moving Day had arrived.
Without wanting to startle him from his precarious (my word, not his) perch on the duvet, I went and got the biggest glass baking dish I could find from the kitchen (after all, he is a very speedy spider) and, together with a big green bit of plastic, gently persuaded him that a trip to the wilderness (aka the rubbish bags outside) was in order. Apparently it was, and I closed the door before he could argue with me. Cheap way to win an argument, but it worked on this occasion. So I hope he's ok, and that someone else, somewhere else has a little more luck with his manners. :-) K
- Posted by flyingkiwi on 20/07/2006.
- flyingkiwi's site
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