The Baynhams

I have just had my first nasty run in with Australian creepy crawlies.....

I did the school run yesterday morning and stood in the playground chatting to a few parents for about 10 minutes when suddenly I felt a searing pain on my upper thigh. It felt like a bee-sting. I started rubbing it like crazy but then felt another and another. I grabbed Gareths hand and ran for the car where I dropped my jeans only to see lots of angry red lumps appearing in a line along my leg. I drove home as fast as I could and watched my life pass before my eyes, convinced I had been bitten by something deadly. What scared me the most was that whatever had bitten me was still inside my jeans. I was trying to think where I could go for anti-venom as I ran in the front door screaming for Byron. At this stage I was close to tears and wriggled out of my jeans as quickly as possible. I now had 15 angry red weals on my thigh that were throbbing and were starting to swell up at an incredible rate. Byron turned my jeans inside out and eventually found the culprit. We thought it was a spider and I was ready to pass out when Byron looked closely and realized that it was a large green ant that had lost the last segment of his body so that it looked more spider-like. Its jaws were still chomping angrily but at least we knew it wasn't dangerous. Just b****y sore.

A bit of ice and lots of sympathy later and I am feeling fine. Looks like I will have to start tucking my jeans into my socks if I want to carry on joining in the playground gossip!