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There are many ways in which the month of May can be thought of as the month of creepy crawly and slithery things. The photos above show them in all their glory. Peter Nevett at school had, with a casual and dismissive air during morning break talked of the various scorpions that were plaguing his house and even scurrying across his desk while he was working at the computer. Not to be outdone, a couple of days later while I was
pushing a broom around at home, I swished a four-inch long and particularly dangerous scorpion from the wall in my dining room. I was not even aware of what it was until it hit the floor and starting scurrying. In a couple of long strokes I was able to sweep it past the kitchen door to outside where it belonged. I went back to fetch my video camera, and even as I was filming the creature started trying for the kitchen door again as viewed in the second picture from the left. Then on 23rd May we went to camp at a place called Yextho (more about that below, but on the first morning the gardener delivered a
de-rattled and cruelly beaten rattlesnake for us to enjoy. The last scorpion, much smaller and less nasty than the one in my house, turned up under a child's seat in the middle of an English exam the following week. Chaos erupted of course for a few minutes. Young
Hector caught him for me using a plastic cup and a sheet of paper. Finally, the lizard far right, was spotted on my front lawn (a yellow patch of straw that used to be lawn) as I returned from the shops one evening. Again I went gingerly inside and crept out again with video camera switched on and poised at the ready. I took some great footage of it. It was very obliging and didn't move a muscle. In fact it is still there now and it is 7th June. It is in exactly the same position as when I filmed it. I am beginning to think it is dead.
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