Spiders, spiders, and spiders...oh, my!

It's been a rainy few days here in Tennessee (thank you, God) and I've just been needing a little pick-me-up. Some Gary Lightbody love should do the trick! I about died when I read this excerpt from his tour blog on their official web site. I am convinced that GL is my destiny, but come on man...if you're going to make it in my world, you can't be afraid of spiders. Or dogs. Or horses. Or pot-bellied pigs.

"On a car journey from Sydney to play a show in Newcastle our driver and guide Rory, a genial and erudite ex-army man passed on his vast knowledge of the surrounding landscape, its history and its wildlife. After four days of feeling safe in Sydney (I was told on a trip here a few years back that no spiders lived in the city as ‘they’re more scared of you than you are of them’) Rory calmly answered my tentative inquiries about what things out here in the wilderness might bring about my untimely death. “As we’ll not be stopping out here,” he says, “there isn’t anything to worry about” (phew, says I). If only he’d stopped talking right there. Then he told me about the very real danger that lives in the place I’d just been feeling safe in for the last few days: the Sydney Funnel Web Spider (SHIT, says I). It’s a spider ONLY found in Sydney. Contrary to whatever liar told me there were no spiders to worry about in the cities this is one of the most deadly in the world and it lives in nearly every garden in Sydney. The place is teeming with them. Of course this is where Rory lets me have it good and proper while he has me up against the ropes and woozy as a nineteenth-century aristocrat’s daughter at a poetry reading. Before I passed out I recall him saying it had the ability to jump three feet in the air and very often the reason someone is bitten at all is because they try and step on the wee bastards and the spider, using the gift the devil gave it, leaps into the air and bites the fella on his mancakes. Bang! I hit the floor of the car. When I came to again and Rory stopped laughing he hit me with yet more tragic stories of insects and animals chasing folk (and catching folk) that would make you want to seal yourself inside a suit of armour forever. Although knowing me I’d end up sealing something nasty in there with me. I should calm down though. It’s really not that bad. For all my fears, we're yet to see so much as a moth with a funny look in his eye in all our trips out here, and all that said we’re having a wonderful last tour of this record. Australia has always been great for us and the gigs so far have been a hell of a lot of fun. Thank you all for coming and being such a great crowd."