Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Spiteful Acts of Spiders

Walking to the station this morning at dawn, I reckon I got hit by twenty spider webs. Not big whopper ones, just a single strand going from one side of the footpath to the other.

Spiders don't respect the human thoroughfare, and after their nights work of weaving their proper web, as an afterthought, and to use up any excess web they have lying around, they just throw out a line across the path. Kind of for the heck of it, and a little bit out of spite.

While not terrified of spiders, I don't really want to eat their web either, and like when you get a hair in your mouth and can't find it (no matter how much you pince around with your finger and thumb), as soon as these webs hit your face, or bare arms, they become invisible.

You feel something tickling your skin, or vaguely impairing your vision, but no matter how much you rub and pull at the air, it sticks fast. This is what I resent: that I will now spend the rest of the day clawing vainly at twenty individual threads that are invisibly wrapped around my body.

2 comments:

Christine said...

that picture WILL give me nightmares, I have to scroll past it with my eyes closed.

Laetitia :-) said...

You may feel daft doing this but, walking along the footpath with one hand up in the air in front of you will get the webs before they get your face. Wear a disposable glove if you feel it necessary to avoid feeling like your hand is covered in web all day.

And if it's any consolation, I get that tickling feeling from my own hair if I don't have it up.