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A young woman from Swindon has tied a small bell to a house spider living in her flat, in the hope it won’t be able to creep up on her any more.
Fiona Williams, 35, is hopeful the move will help with her chronic fear of spiders, and their insistence on sneaking up on her when she’s watching the television.
She told us, “The idea came to me when I was visiting a farm with my nephews at the weekend.
“The cows all had bells on so they couldn’t sneak up on you – it was like my very own a Eureka moment, except without an old man in a bath.
“I’ve actually improved on the principle – do you know what finds it harder to sneak up on you than a cow wearing a bell? A cow wearing two bells.”
Fiona said that although the idea itself was clearly a moment of genius, the application of the bells wasn’t at all straightforward.
“There was a lot of leaping backwards and forwards and hiding in corners, and the spider did much of the same.
“But eventually we both calmed down and I attached the bells with some cotton thread, and off it jingled to it’s home somewhere behind the skirting board in the kitchen.”
However, Fiona admitted that one unforeseen issue was the relentless ringing of the bells that now stops her sleeping at night.
“Did you know spiders are nocturnal? No, neither did I.
“Not to worry, I’ve decided that from tomorrow I will just take the bell off at night and put it back on in the morning.”
This article was first published on our partner site, Der Postillon.
