COOLING OFF

I was reflecting that children quite frequently do not react as you would expect and this reminded me of an incident during my childhood that I had forgotten.

One hot Summer’s day I came into the house in late afternoon and found my mother lying on the wooden floor in the living room. She said to me, Go and get your father, and obediently I went back into the garden to look for him. I was about 6 r 7 years old. I found him in our orchard and said to him, Mummy wants you to go in and see her. He nodded and I having delivered the message went to play in my own little bit of garden behind the hen-house.

A little later I went in to the house to find my mother sitting on a chair with her feet on a stool and a blanket slung around her. They sent me to wash my hands and on my return, my mother said to me, Why did you not tell Daddy that I was lying on the floor? Apparently he had finished the task he was doing, and then cleaned his tools and put them away, washed his hands at the outdoor tap, collected the washing which was dry and then went looking for his wife, who was not surprisingly considerably put out by his delay.

I then said I had not regarded it as important as I had assumed she was ‘cooling off’. My parents were puzzled by this until I explained that when I got too hot I lay down on the floor on the wooden section, or the tiles, or the hall had stone flags and that way one cooled off. I never found out why she was on the floor – perhaps she had fallen. She sustained no lasting damage.

My parents accepted my account as truthful and as given in good faith for I was not punished nor reproached any further, though my father did say to me that it was fine to lie on the floor to cool off but if I saw an adult lying on the floor it was probably better to assume that they were unwell and to get help promptly.

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

In the recent hot spell I woke in the night and decided I needed a drink of water, so I switched on my bedside lamp and found myself staring straight into the eyes of a large spider, who was poised on the edge of my glass, refreshing himself from my water.

Now I am not someone who is afraid of spiders, or even dislikes them. They consume flies after all, and you are scarcely aware of their presence. This one was the stick variety, a pale colour and very thin. However, I did not like the idea of him being so near my face, and me quite unaware of him – spiders are quite silent!

I knew that spiders need water and they can locate where is the nearest supply to them. I used to have a small indoor fountain and I would set it to flow each morning and then watch as two spiders approached the fountain from opposite ends of the room. I decided I could live with this spider and dismissed him from my mind.

Last week we were lying in bed watching TV and thinking of going to sleep when out of the corner of my eye I caught a movement on the floor. It was a huge, an ENORMOUS spider, about the size of the palm of my hand, or a poached egg and standing off the ground as tall as an egg-cup. It was black, hairy and looking straight at me. It was about six feet away from me, but I felt that it had been heading for my water-glass. It obviously decided that discretion was the better part of valour and it headed – an incredible speed – for my chests of drawers, behind which it disappeared.

John pointed out to me that he could not easily pursue it behind the drawers for that piece of furniture was custom built by him and consists of two sets of drawers, with open shelves on top which hold boxes containing my medication, jewellery, some odds and ends – hankies, vitamins, plus a few books. These shelves rise to the ceiling and are wedged in between floor and ceiling, Tokyo-style. The whole piece of furniture is affixed to the wall.

For the next several nights when I would switch my light off, I would find myself imagining the spider making his stealthy way across the bedroom floor towards my water-glass. I knew that he would cause me no harm and indeed was not even particularly interested in me but this knowledge brought me no comfort.

I am not keen on killing things and prefer where possible to coexist with the animals. Besides, the only way of reaching this spider would be with an insect repellent and how much would I need to floor an insect of its size? Also I would be exposed to the noxious fumes. In the end I decided to provide a water source nearer to its lair than my water glass. (He’s not a stupid spider.)

I selected a small five sided Japanese dish. As I fill it with water I reflect that my actions- providing water for the resident spider – might possibly be regarded as rather eccentric, but I don’t care.

I haven’t seen the spider recently. Long may this continue.