Bassetluv
Well-Known Member
My three biggest fears:
* Having to stand and speak in front of a crowd (anything more than five or six people, and I freeze)
* Water - I've never learned how to swim, and almost drowned a week before me wedding when a small rowboat I was in sank
* Cockroaches, Junebugs, and other assorted hard-shelled bugs
Oh, and maggots! I've had some pretty bad experiences with those littlesuckers. I used to manage two apartment complexes, and had to put thetenants' garbage out every week. The system was that people would droptheir bags of garbage in a 'garbage room' in the basement, and there itwould sit - potentially for up to a week - and then I'd have to carrythem all out to the curb the night before collection. I can't tell youhow many times I'd go to pick up a bag, only to have it start'moving'...maggots would be crawling through the contents and wouldinevitably begin emerging from the top of the bag and falling on myhands as I was carrying it to the curb....which would have me cringingin horror, followed by a long, hot shower as soon as I was done...myskin would be crawling at the thoughts of those little things!
(But the worst experience I can recall with maggots happened onesummer when I was invited to my sister and brother-in-law's cottage inthe mountains. We arrived late in the evening and my son, Stephen - whowas around six or seven at the time - was exhausted. So I took him tothe guest bedroom and put him into the bed that I was to share withhim. The cottage had no electricity, so I put him to bed without takinga flashlight (didn't want to wake him as he'd already fallen asleep).About an hour or two later I decided to call it a night, so I took theflashlight and went to bed. I was getting undressed and pulled thecovers back on the double bed, only to notice something was moving. Ishone the flashlight on the bed, and there, all around my poor littleson, were maggots...hundreds and hundreds of them, under every layer ofevery blanket, and wriggling and writhing around everywhere! To say Ifreaked would put it mildly...I ran out of the room, out of the cottageand let loose there, then ran back in and got my brother-in-law toremove Stephen from the bed so the unwanted guests could be extracated.Thankfully Stephen was a heavy sleeper, and never once stirred. Me, onthe other hand...even though the bedding was changed, mattressesdouble-checked and cleaned...I still opted to spend the night on thesofa. Even thinking about it all these years later still gives me a badcase of the willies!)
* Having to stand and speak in front of a crowd (anything more than five or six people, and I freeze)
* Water - I've never learned how to swim, and almost drowned a week before me wedding when a small rowboat I was in sank
* Cockroaches, Junebugs, and other assorted hard-shelled bugs
Oh, and maggots! I've had some pretty bad experiences with those littlesuckers. I used to manage two apartment complexes, and had to put thetenants' garbage out every week. The system was that people would droptheir bags of garbage in a 'garbage room' in the basement, and there itwould sit - potentially for up to a week - and then I'd have to carrythem all out to the curb the night before collection. I can't tell youhow many times I'd go to pick up a bag, only to have it start'moving'...maggots would be crawling through the contents and wouldinevitably begin emerging from the top of the bag and falling on myhands as I was carrying it to the curb....which would have me cringingin horror, followed by a long, hot shower as soon as I was done...myskin would be crawling at the thoughts of those little things!
(But the worst experience I can recall with maggots happened onesummer when I was invited to my sister and brother-in-law's cottage inthe mountains. We arrived late in the evening and my son, Stephen - whowas around six or seven at the time - was exhausted. So I took him tothe guest bedroom and put him into the bed that I was to share withhim. The cottage had no electricity, so I put him to bed without takinga flashlight (didn't want to wake him as he'd already fallen asleep).About an hour or two later I decided to call it a night, so I took theflashlight and went to bed. I was getting undressed and pulled thecovers back on the double bed, only to notice something was moving. Ishone the flashlight on the bed, and there, all around my poor littleson, were maggots...hundreds and hundreds of them, under every layer ofevery blanket, and wriggling and writhing around everywhere! To say Ifreaked would put it mildly...I ran out of the room, out of the cottageand let loose there, then ran back in and got my brother-in-law toremove Stephen from the bed so the unwanted guests could be extracated.Thankfully Stephen was a heavy sleeper, and never once stirred. Me, onthe other hand...even though the bedding was changed, mattressesdouble-checked and cleaned...I still opted to spend the night on thesofa. Even thinking about it all these years later still gives me a badcase of the willies!)
