Why you close up shop so late?

[venta]

Wandering into the toilets at work yesterday, I observed that Mr. Jones, Spider had taken a brief holiday on the other side of the cubicle, by the cistern.

Closer investigation revealed that in fact he hadn't; he was still in his web. Another spider, Mr. Smith was ambling casually across the cistern. Still further investigation demonstrated that setting up web just along the wall from Mr. Jones is Mr. Wesson. It seems that the ladies' toilets is becoming quite the fashionable place for a long-leggedy spider to live.

Looking at the webs in close proximity suggests that there are in fact very small flies, or other insects, which are caught there. So perhaps it's not quite the impractical place for a web that I formerly imagined.

Some crawling round this morning located Mr. Smith's abode: behind the toilet, where the waste pipe joins the wall. I did try to take some quick snaps of the Spiders, but they all seem to have sited themselves in corners too dark for my phone-camera to handle.

Mr. Jones withdrew in somewhat haughty diginity when I attempted to point a camera at him. I apologised, of course.

Comments

[wimble.livejournal.com]

After all, wouldn't you object if somebody started taking photographs of you in the toilet?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're really drawing a fair comparison there. If I were sitting in a place to which the public have access, I wouldn't be surprised at someone taking my photo.

I might think it was impolite of them not to have asked first, which was of course why I apologised.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Some crawling round this morning located Mr. Smith's abode: behind the toilet

You do know that crawling around near toilets is gross don't you? ;-)

I'm sure you haven't had the audacity to ask them, but do they have first names yet?

[venta.livejournal.com]

You do know that crawling around near toilets is gross don't you? ;-)

Er, no. Why is it ?

I'm sure you haven't had the audacity to ask them, but do they have first names yet?

I don't know. I imagine them to be upright, respectable Spiders who wouldn't encourage that kind of familiarity.

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

How about "Hrunkner", "Rachner" and "Sherkaner"?

(I wonder who will get the reference?)

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

I still think Code Archeaology is a brilliant prediction ;-)

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

What do you mean "prediction"? It's happening already...

(Ok, in a rather smaller way than the book predicts, but give us a few hundred years...)

[venta.livejournal.com]

(I wonder who will get the reference?)

Not me :)

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

A Deepness In The Sky - an SF novel by Vernor Vinge which features human-types observing a culture of intelligent spider-crab thingies and is partially written from the spider's perspective. It's very good, as is the preceding book, A Fire Upon The Deep.

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

Is that the one with "Focus"?

Trying to remember the many sci-fi books of the past....

[al-fruitbat.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was. And it was only a couple of years ago! ;-)

[broadmeadow.livejournal.com]

> Some crawling round this morning located Mr. Smith's abode: behind the toilet

Are you sure? Do I have to go there now?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Please don't.

Person (or Spider) -> surname is not a one-to-one mapping.

[triskellian]

Small request: if you do succeed in taking photos, would you mind putting them in a separate post from the words? Cos I'm having fun believing that the spiders in your world are nicer than the spiders in my world (ie I'm enjoying these posts), but I suspect photos would demonstrate that actually, they're not (ie I wouldn't click a cut-tag that had spider photos behind it).

(Disclaimers: your LJ, you're free to do whatever you like, wouldn't dare to presume, yadda yadda yadda ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yup, I'm aware some people don't like spider photos, so I'll make sure they're safely away from everything else, and well spattered with warnings.

But I doubt I'm liable to go to the effort of borrowing a camera, or bringing a real film camera in, and my phone won't cope. So you're probably safe :)

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Mine'll do it [he offered, helpfully]