Nightmares

Thanks to David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth we have now identified one of the more unpleasant bichos that regularly invades our house in Guatemala...the Whip Spider.

Tarantulas I can deal with. They are actually quite cute and will generally leave you alone unless provoked, but this hard-shelled nasty makes me break out in a cold sweat.

It's not unusual to hear a piercing scream emitted by the occupant of our downstairs guest loo. V once dimensionally compacted one of these arachno-lobsters with a large hardback book, which remains on the shelf next to the toilet and can deliver a nasty surprise to unsuspecting browsers.

On a separate note, V has been suffering from a recurring dream recently involving a catastrophic eruption of the Volcan de Fuego.