Wasps. They scare the living bejesus out of me. I have an irrational fear of these aggressive-looking yellow and black coloured tiny flying objects.

This morning at around 4am I noticed one buzzing around. I always leave my window open, so I did as usual and went downstairs to watch some American motorsports hoping the pesky buzzer would find its way out of my room for good. I went to check on the situation and what the ?? There were half-a-dozen crawling all over my lampshade!!

So of course I completely freaked out, dashed back downstairs to fetch a can of extra-strength anti-bug spray, sprayed the entire room. Three times , turned off the light and closed the door. Back to the telly I thought But bugger me sideways if one hadn't materialised into the lounge's lampshade as well illepall .

So I dragged a chair next to the door and watched TV from there for a good 2h, had a peek from the outside of the house to see if there were any of those oversized mosquitos flying around and sure enough, one was making its way to the other end of the roof drainage pipe. There's got to be a nest somewhere on the roof, seven wasps in about an hour is no fluke.

Fortunately the spray did the job, it took me almost a minute to just open my door again, trying to be careful in case they were aggressive after getting sprayed, and shook every little item in the room just to make sure there weren't any live ones left. There weren't.. lol, am I glad Now I can start thinking of going to bed

Needed to get that off my chest, I'm relieved now that they're gone!

You got any phucking phobias?

I'm scared of wasps too, and spiders. One time there was a huge spider on my wall, and I watched it from my bed for half a night. I just couldn't set myself to kill it. I sprayed deoderant on it to make it go on the floor, so I could squat it with my foot. But it dissapeared under my wallcloset (like, in it, the door was closed, but it could still crawl in), I went to bed, next morning I looked inside the closset, nothing there, never saw the spider again. I still don't like to look in the closset, and there is a space behind the closset, wich you can enter through a door inside the closset, don't like going in there either I learned to control myself when I see a wasp though.

so you prefer to sleep in a chemical contaminated room then with some bugs? Ok i dont know how many actually lost their live there but in these cases i try to catch them with a glas or a cup or simular and throw them out of the window. Its more effectively in my eyes then picking up dead bugs from everywhere or scrape off the walls. Anyway i dont know the measure of bug invasion so i may have to act the same way i dont know

The fear of wasps is in no way irrational, some people can die from wasp stings....

The fear of spiders (in this country at least) is completely irrational, even if they are as big as your hand, they cannot hurt you.

I only have one fear in life, and thats bloody deer and other wildlife running across the road in front of me, not irrational either.

Dan,

Quote from danowat :

The fear of wasps is in no way irrational, some people can die from wasp stings....

The fear of spiders (in this country at least) is completely irrational, even if they are as big as your hand, they cannot hurt you.

I only have one fear in life, and thats bloody deer and other wildlife running across the road in front of me, not irrational either.

Dan,

The worst thing is, I know that... illepall

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

Wasps. They scare the living bejesus out of me. I have an irrational fear of these aggressive-looking yellow and black coloured tiny flying objects.

This morning at around 4am I noticed one buzzing around. I always leave my window open, so I did as usual and went downstairs to watch some American motorsports hoping the pesky buzzer would find its way out of my room for good. I went to check on the situation and what the ?? There were half-a-dozen crawling all over my lampshade!!

So of course I completely freaked out, dashed back downstairs to fetch a can of extra-strength anti-bug spray, sprayed the entire room. Three times , turned off the light and closed the door. Back to the telly I thought But bugger me sideways if one hadn't materialised into the lounge's lampshade as well illepall .

So I dragged a chair next to the door and watched TV from there for a good 2h, had a peek from the outside of the house to see if there were any of those oversized mosquitos flying around and sure enough, one was making its way to the other end of the roof drainage pipe. There's got to be a nest somewhere on the roof, seven wasps in about an hour is no fluke.

Fortunately the spray did the job, it took me almost a minute to just open my door again, trying to be careful in case they were aggressive after getting sprayed, and shook every little item in the room just to make sure there weren't any live ones left. There weren't.. lol, am I glad Now I can start thinking of going to bed

Needed to get that off my chest, I'm relieved now that they're gone!

You got any phucking phobias?

You didnt happen to have any honey in the lampshades did ya? lol that'd be one of my worse nightmares to have loads of wasps in my room, I'd leave the house. I leave my window open virtually 24/7 and rarely get anything in the window (usually just a few moths at night - which usually die before sunrise ).

There are 10 species of poisonous spider in the UK (by poisonous I mean ones that will have a noticable effect on a human being, of course all spiders are poisonous to a degree), although the chances of a bite being life threatening are slim. I wouldn't be surprised if anaphylactic shock could, however, kill someone.

Wasp are the same - allergies leading to anaphylactic shock can be fatal, and you develop these allergies over time, so you might be safe the first 100 stings, but on the 101st you might die.

And yes, I have a phobia of wasps. In our workshop we routinely get visited by hornets (about 50mm long!), and I've actually climbed in a car and used my mobile to call someone to rescue me. It's quite embarassing really...

Quote from tristancliffe :

There are 10 species of poisonous spider in the UK (by poisonous I mean ones that will have a noticable effect on a human being, of course all spiders are poisonous to a degree), although the chances of a bite being life threatening are slim. I wouldn't be surprised if anaphylactic shock could, however, kill someone.

Which native species of UK spiders are poisonous? (to humans that is), only one I know of in the whole of Europe is the black widow which is sometimes found in southern Europe.

Dan,

lol yah Hornets are scary as hell, and they're way tooo big to be native surely? But no, someBODY up there decides that we should have them in THIS country...

I'm very wary of wasps and bees, if they're carrying pollen and sting me I could be in for it. Also I was once stung in the eye by one of them, i'm not sure if it was a wasp or a bee because I didn't see it coming! I now wear glasses because of that when I used to have 20/20 vision.

I remember having open surgery on my face without anaethetic when I was knifed and I took that in my stride, it smarted a bit but I just got on with it. However when they took my eye out they have to leave you consious or you go blind, so they popped it out and cleaned it and I screamed so much the surgeon said I was the worst patient he'd ever had. Funny thing is there's no nerve endings in the eye so you dont feel a thing, it's all psychological.

My irrational fear is of two fingers touching either side of my eye and 'popping' it out.

*shudder*

I have no idea Dan - it was on a programme on the TV that my Dad watched, and he took great pleasure in telling me about it - the next day a thread like this comes up!

As for wasps/bees etc with Nectar, apparently (according to the same program I think) Nectar is more than just sugar and water, but a mixture of hundreds of different thinkgs, including alcohol, yeast (which can ferment with the sugars), sugars, etc etc. Thus just from collecting pollen wasps/bees can become drunk. I already knew wasps get drunk from eating the bruises of fallen apples, and then they just sting stuff for the sake of it!!!

NotanIllusion: Brilliant post!

I once had a wasp nest being built on my curtain. I guess it was there about a week before i noticed it as it was hidden in the curtain bunch at the end. Im not scared of them anyway. I wouldnt last long if i were scared of spiders either seen as my room always has spiders in it. I can see two big daddly long legs from where im sitting now and this morning i woke up to find a little spider on the wall just above my head.

I have a friend who cant sleep without *cant think of the name* in her ears as she is afraid something will crawl in at night.

I have a fear of big blow flies though. The big fat ones creep me out.

Used to have a phobia of having a crippling accident until I became good friends with a quadraplegic. Saw it wasn't really the end of the world as long as you keep in mind who you are ("γνώθει σ'αυτόν" as Socos used to say). That phobia's gone now.

I used to have a phobia of having a tooth uprooted violently. That was until I had a neat cycling accident with exactly that (and more!) result and acquired, in the long run, a couple of titanium chompers. That phobia's gone now too.

Wasps, bees..no big deal to me, I avoid them because my family has a history of being allergic to them although I personally don't as far as I know.

Spiders though..dunno why, completely irrational, but I hate the buggers. I used to just squash them, now I at least try to contain it and put it outside unless they're too big for any empty glass I have to hand. Maybe because my parents had the same thing, so I was brought up with it. Fine with daddy long legs and small spiders though, weird?

@ Tristan about the spiders, I heard somewhere, think it might have been one of Attenborough's documentaries about how UK spiders are poisonous to a degree that it will have some effects on a human being. They even said that your average garden spider one that you find in your shed has enough poison to severely effect you only they dont have strong enough fangs to actually pearce your skin.

I myself dont have any phobias, I grew up living with such insects as my dad owned a summerhouse/weekend house which we would go to ever week and there i was able to see wasps, spiders and all sorts of bugs. I remember I use to catch wasps/flies/bugs and throw then into spiders webs around the house and see them come out wrap it round and eat it. Usually my tennis racket was enough to catch these bugs. Also had a wasp fly into my t-shirt whilst cycling down a hill once which wasnt too pleasant as before i could stop my bike and get it out of my shirt i received around 15 stings. I have been stung by all sorts of bugs, probably the worst and most painful was the red ants nest which i fell into, was curious so i was poking it with a stick but when i got up i slipped and fell on my arse right into the nest.. that hurt. Horse-fly is another painful biting insect that liked to suck my blood.

I am glad i dont have any phobias, makes me seem normal when a wasp flies into a room, everyone goes mad..its quite funny.

The insect i have most respect for is the Hornet they are about 4 times the size of a wasp and have a very very painful sting. They managed to build a nest in my dads loft and boy when he was smoking them out the noise was scary. Its like the whole roof was going to lift off..

I feel having grown in with nature make me understand it, respect it and there for i have no phobias...

mad

brrrrr Hornets make my skin crawl, ive had a few buzz near my face once, frightened the living daylights out of me, also had one the other week crawl thru the window, had no idea how it did because it was virtually closed, thankfully i killed it with some fly spray

I have a fear of falling, of anything (maybe it's a fear of hights). But no matter what I'm on, be it a wall, a tree, a roller coaster, I always think "Shit, what if I fall", also on the roller coaster, I also fear falling out of them.

I'm not a large guy, and I can squeeze out of the restraints without trying. Logically, I know that the only way that would happen is if the ride stopped upside down. But it doesn't stop the fear, so if you ever see me on a roller coaster, I'll always have at least one arm clasped around the harnes, minus Magnum Force, still can't work out why, but when I fasten on that 5-point, I feel safe. Maybe because I can't slide out of it.

Wasp spray, bah, I use my patented 'Wasp Away Swatter' or in other words an old badminton racket It works a charm, although it does chop them in half usually and it is often quite hard to track down where the bits of wasp went...

bbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzz................sssssssssssTHWACK!

I will agree that spiders can bite. I was once bitten by one that had hidden in my sock, ****ing hurt.

My irrational fear is of mummies, irrational because I know they can't come alive and chase after me screaming. But they still terrify me, I can't watch programmes about ancient Egypt because of it.

Quote :

I have a fear of falling, of anything (maybe it's a fear of hights). But no matter what I'm on, be it a wall, a tree, a roller coaster, I always think "Shit, what if I fall", also on the roller coaster, I also fear falling out of them.

I used to suffer from this particular brand of vertigo, it's not the height that's scary, but the thought of some irrational decision to jump off. I could barely walk over a bridge incase I threw myself off it, which was completely stupid because I wasn't in any way suicidal.

To get over my fear I decided to climb a Mountain. It worked. I went up the Watkins Ascent of Mount Snowdon, not the hardest way up (actually the 2nd hardest) - but a far cry from the tourist route .

Fear of spiders isn't irrational, they are evil I tell ya

As you can tell, yes I have a phobia of spiders, stems from when I was a kid and one crawled up my hand (Little kids hand, big spider, wrpped itself around my arm and couldn't get it off, nealy breaking my arm squashing it on the floor!)

Very nasty stuff!

I've got quite a few fears. I'm a big wimp

I don't like the thought of someone staring into my house at night through a window (all windows *must* have curtains of some kind, and they must be drawn).

I don't like plug-hole spiders. They scare the shit out of me. Similarly lots of spiders will also scare the crap out of me; regardless of size. One or two little ones I don't mind though.

I also have a fear of heights; but only where I can see through what I'm standing on. Such as steps with no backs to them (our clarkes shoe shop had the kids section downstairs when I was younger; with no backing to the stairs).

I also fear I'll fail, and that I'm a disappointment to everyone. I'm also afraid that when people find out my way of coping with things in life, they'll try and "rescue" me.

I'm sure theres plenty more that I've not thought of too :s

Quote from the_angry_angel :

I've got quite a few fears. I'm a big wimp

I don't like the thought of someone staring into my house at night through a window (all windows *must* have curtains of some kind, and they must be drawn).

I don't like plug-hole spiders. They scare the shit out of me. Similarly lots of spiders will also scare the crap out of me; regardless of size. One or two little ones I don't mind though.

I also have a fear of heights; but only where I can see through what I'm standing on. Such as steps with no backs to them (our clarkes shoe shop had the kids section downstairs when I was younger; with no backing to the stairs).

I also fear I'll fail, and that I'm a disappointment to everyone. I'm also afraid that when people find out my way of coping with things in life, they'll try and "rescue" me.

I'm sure theres plenty more that I've not thought of too :s

Bloody hell mate, ever thought of counseling? :ices_rofl

Quote from danowat :

Bloody hell mate, ever thought of counseling? :ices_rofl

Unfortunately I've had it. It doesn't work

I forgot to mention I have a fear of people getting inside my head and analysing me I tend not to get on well with psychologists

No one gets on well with pyschologists. Studying psychology is an absolutly sane reason to quit a friendship.

About my irrational fears: I get along with everything. The thing that makes me shudder the most though are craneflies. Their feeling in my skin kind of freaks me out, though that propably is the same with everyone. Otherwise I sympathise with almost anything. I really like most spiders. More spiders = more webs = less insects that can sting me. Of course never more than one spider per room.

Vain

My fears are Bee's and Wasps. I was scared that I was allergic to their sting and I would go into shock and die!. However I was stung by a wasp the other month and I pulled through it so I'm less scared now.