We're sitting here wondering why we're going to a tropical island to experience miserable weather. But, being a couple of optimists, there is a possibility that the thunder storms may be heavy, and short... So we can sun ourselves from morning 'til late afternoon; experience an awesome thunderstorm in the early evening, and then spend the rest of our night swatting mosquitos with our threadbare towels and wondering how to extricate large spiders from our room. Like... "Big Boy" here...
The 'Huntsman' spider. (... and there's a load more of 'em). In Southern Africa they are commonly known as rain spiders because of their tendency to seek shelter before rain storms (... of which we have been promised a few), often entering human habitations when doing so (... like our bedroom for example). They also tend to exhibit a "cling" reflex if picked up, making them difficult to shake off and much more likely to bite (...bite you say? Bite?... Oh fabulous!). The effects vary, including local swelling and pain, sometimes with nausea, headache, vomiting, irregular pulse rate, and heart palpitations, indicating some systemic neurological effects, especially when the bites are severe or repeated.
Right, that's it then! After drinking 56 pints of lager the previous day if I'm feeling marginally unwell in the morning, suffering from nausea, headache, vomiting, irregular pulse rate, and heart palpitations, it will be doubtlessly be down to the fact that, given the prevailing climatic conditions, I have been bitten repeatedly by a 'Huntsman' spider.
the key to living with scattered thunderstorms is understanding that they're scattered. And the Indian Ocean is a very big place in which to scatter the little buggers. Or so I'm told.
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