Love them or hate them! I am talking Spiders here..... and I have some friends that just by uttering the word "Spider" can turn them into a quivering jelly... of course I would never utter the word Spider to my friends on purpose, then again!!!!
Several years ago I took my son & daughter to the Tropical Butterfly House in South Yorkshire. The door to the Arachnid house had not even closed behind me when a young man came up to me and said " Would you be good enough to hold your hand out for me" of course I obeyed without question (why do we do this) he then placed a very large Tarantula on my palm!!!! Oh my god! I immediately froze on the spot and I think I also stopped breathing. This young man was the spider keeper and had about 20 children around him and he wanted them to see that there was nothing to be afraid off by holding a Tarantula!!!!
Well I had a choice here and after realising that I was about to faint from lack of air, I sucked in as much as I could and somehow managed to control my poise, giving him a rather sickly grin when I actually wanted to scream endless abuse at him for putting me through this. This only lasted minutes but it felt way way longer than that at the time, and by this stage my arm was beginning to ache as it was fully extended to keep this monster spider as far away from me as possible. I found myself telling all the children in front of me (I might add with very high pitched vocals that I never knew could be reached) that it was actually rather nice and you know what it was!!! it was very soft and furry. I can't say I love spiders and would certainly never want one as a pet, and I wont ever, ever hold my hand out again to a stranger, and have to admit that up to that day I was also one of the howlers when the word spider was mentioned. But since that day I have absolutely no fear of them so I should be grateful to the keeper for the cure!!!
What about you do you love them or hate them?
