To be brief - I have small phobia and it is that I am not at all keen on spiders, snakes or any of creatures of that ilk. I am not proud of my phobia but there you have it - nothing I can do about it, although as I have got older I have become more controlled in my reactions - T.G.

So when it comes to meeting them face to face so to speak - I am most certainly not awfully keen on having them anywhere near me or in my house either.

One afternoon when my boys were quite young, I was coming up the stairs to check them out in their bath when I heard my elder son say to the younger "Quick give it a name and she won't kill it!"

I went into the bathroom to be greeted with "Mum, meet Maryanne" I looked up to see strolling fearlessly about on my ceiling the hairiest, scariest, biggest, fattest huntsman spider ever.

And no - I didn't kill it, after all they had named it. Smart of them was my first thought - with my second being that they knew me really well! To be honest I just lived in dread it would somehow fall on me as I brushed my teeth or took a shower.

Eventually it moved house.

And honestly, not with my help either.

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