Bug girl

The other day I was busy working my checkout at the big green supermarket when I had an encounter of the 8-legged variety.
There I was scanning the customer's groceries when I suddenly became aware of squeals and shrieks very close at hand.
Looking up I noticed my female supervisor and the female customer, both with horrified looks on their faces, hopping around squeaking in fright.
At first I was puzzled, what had I'd done? Then I became aware of the breathless squeals of "spider, spider, spider". It took me a while to locate the fearsome beast that was causing such a panic...that's because it was TINY! about the size of a match head or a grain of rice. Its a variety that we, in Australia, call a 'jumping spider'. They're totally harmless! Not that you'd know it with the way these two women were carrying on! Before I knew it the panic had spread to the (Filipino) checkout girl who was standing behind me and she started squealing and trying to get away from me.

Where was I in this melee? I abandoned the groceries and began attempting to capture the wee beastie before the panic spread. I succeeded in catching it, then took it over to release it in one of the potted plants in the shopping centre. Crisis averted and I went back to work.

I've always been interested in natural history. As a kid I read books by people like Gerald Durrell, James Herriot and David Attenborough. Sadly not all my family members shared the fascination.
I grew up on an 800 acre sheep farm so there was always plenty of wildlife to study. I often found weird looking insects in the firewood pile. I'd load it into an old jam jar and race inside to show Mum the cool critter I found. I'd be so caught up in the moment that I generally ignored the face that Mum was halfway up the kitchen bench, hyperventilating, but trying to pretend interest. "um, yes dear" *gasp pant* "that's great" *pant, pant* "now, how about you let it go" *wheeze* "I'm sure it doesn't like being in that jar".

Mum and my sister are both major arachnophobes so I was regularly called in to rescue them from some crawlie beastie. They'd lock themselves in the bathroom. They took to stuffing towels under the bathroom door after one of my brothers threatened to stuff the spider under there with them.