EEEEEKKKKK - IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPIDERS, LOOK AWAY!

Hello Lovely Blippers,

Catrina the Cat here - and you can see me in the top photograph of this collage.  You will have to picture the scene - Mrs. HCB was very late to bed - almost two hours after Mr. HCB who went up just after 11 o’clock - don’t forget he had had a very busy week in the garden, so he was tired.

Just after 1 o’clock this morning - Mrs. HCB crept upstairs, and I crept up after her.  She had switched on her bedside light and was just undressing when she happened to look up because something caught her eye - a large hairy spider and you can see that inside the coloured glass.

Well, she’s not that fond of spiders, but they don’t scare her that much either, but she decided she couldn’t get into bed while this one was roaming around - because horror of horrors, it might just drop onto her in the night and it was large and hairy.

By this time, Mr. HCB was gently snoring and was definitely “out for the count,” so what was Mrs. HCB to do?  She thought that getting up onto the stool by the side of the wardrobe wasn’t an option because she might fall and do some damage to herself.  So she decided to go into the spare bedroom and bring the stepstool into their bedroom.  This meant moving the stool out and then setting up the stepstool so she could climb up.  She did think about using the duster which is next to me, but then thought that if she dislodged the spider, it would scuttle away and she might not find it!  Oh deary me, what should she do?

Just as she got the stepstool set up - and it was very squeaky as she pulled it apart - which made Mrs. HCB frightened that she would wake Mr. HCB - the spider decided that it was time to find a suitable spot to sleep, so it scuttled off and then Mrs. HCB couldn’t see it.  By this time, she was perspiring - or should that be sweating?  If the spider had crept into the top of the wardrobe and she tried to dislodge it from there, who knew where it would run to?  Another issue was that it might just drop down onto her face while she was asleep - EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Then she had a cunning plan - she would go downstairs and get the coloured glass that Mr. HCB uses to get bees and wasps out of the conservatory, using the glass and a piece of card.  So downstairs she went and I followed closely behind.  She had to pull back the blinds, open the conservatory door and then find the glass - and by this time she was breathing rather heavily - and by this time it was about 1.30 a.m.

Mission accomplished, off she went upstairs, climbed the three steps onto the stepstool and looked for the spider, which was no easy task, but at last she found it, skulking just inside the top piece of the wardrobe.  Using one of the pairs of spectacles, which you can see in front of me, she hooked it and thankfully, it ran out and along the wall - but not too far, so she was able to catch it under the glass.

The next problem was to slide the card between the glass and the wall and then get down from the stepstool, not using her hands to steady herself - if Mr. HCB had been awake it would have been so much easier, but she didn’t have the heart to wake him!  Also, if he had woken up, he would have been very angry that she was even climbing onto the stepstool. 

BUT, all’s well that ends well - and Mrs. HCB climbed down, held the glass very gingerly, then went downstairs, opened the back door and flung the spider out into the dark night.  Although we are sure that all this malarkey would have made Admirer chuckle, she would have been pleased there was a happy ending.

Which brings me on to the thing we tell you every week about BEING KIND.  Mrs. HCB could have squashed the spider, but she didn’t, she was very kind and gave it a chance to roam free outside, even though it might have been a bit shocked.  So PLEASE remember to BE KIND to all you meet, people or spiders or bees or even wasps!  They all have their place in nature and in God’s wonderful world!

Have a great long weekend - and if you are wondering about the rest of the Silly Saturday Gang, they were dumped unceremoniously into the bag, because I had to tell you this story. 

With love from Catrina - and the the rest of the Silly Saturday Gang  xxx


P.S.  Mr. HCB has just read this and said he would have been very angry had he woken and seen Mrs. HCB - but being the kind person he is, said she should have woken him!