Saturday, August 20, 2005
Life in the wild
Last night, as I was driving home after another enjoyable evening of poker, something strange happened to me, for the second time in my life. I'm driving, at normal speed, quite sober, when something started crawling across my windscreen. On the outside! It was a spider. A big, pretty, white spider. Slowly walking diagonally across my windscreen from my side to the passenger's side.
I'm not particularly scared of spiders. I've learned to respect them. I consider them lucky, auspicious, when they cross my path. But when they enter my line of sight, and I'm trying to concentrate, they can be very distracting.
Obviously the spider was looking to keep warm and has been lounging in my bonnet since earlier the evening. When the engine started heating up, it got too hot, and it had to move. Since it has amazing holding-on, G-force resisting, capabilities, it could simply walk across my windcreen while I was driving, unperturbed by me slowing down, speeding up and swerving within the limits of the law and safety.
All I could do was drive home, quickly get out of my car, and go to bed. The spider caught a free ride, ended up far from its previous home, and is now lurking around my yard somewhere. I don't mind. It can live. It was smart, and got away with it.
Has this happened to anyone else? Am I the only one with freaky hitchhiking spiders? The really strange thing is that this was the second time this has happened to me. The first time the spider was crawling up my window, the driver's window, just as I was pulling away. That time, I had passengers and witnesses. Other people that could express their shock and amusement, while I could simply drive on.
All I can say is, nobody was harmed. We, the spider and I, have a story to tell. I'm going to be on the lookout for any mediumsized white spiders in my home. The spider's possibly going to spread the word: get on the metal and hike your way to a new home.
I'm not particularly scared of spiders. I've learned to respect them. I consider them lucky, auspicious, when they cross my path. But when they enter my line of sight, and I'm trying to concentrate, they can be very distracting.
Obviously the spider was looking to keep warm and has been lounging in my bonnet since earlier the evening. When the engine started heating up, it got too hot, and it had to move. Since it has amazing holding-on, G-force resisting, capabilities, it could simply walk across my windcreen while I was driving, unperturbed by me slowing down, speeding up and swerving within the limits of the law and safety.
All I could do was drive home, quickly get out of my car, and go to bed. The spider caught a free ride, ended up far from its previous home, and is now lurking around my yard somewhere. I don't mind. It can live. It was smart, and got away with it.
Has this happened to anyone else? Am I the only one with freaky hitchhiking spiders? The really strange thing is that this was the second time this has happened to me. The first time the spider was crawling up my window, the driver's window, just as I was pulling away. That time, I had passengers and witnesses. Other people that could express their shock and amusement, while I could simply drive on.
All I can say is, nobody was harmed. We, the spider and I, have a story to tell. I'm going to be on the lookout for any mediumsized white spiders in my home. The spider's possibly going to spread the word: get on the metal and hike your way to a new home.
