Monthly Archives: August 1999
Arachnophobia
A few weeks ago I ran a bath. I stepped in and sat down, and there, floating in the water between my legs, rather too close to my pubis, was a wriggling spider. I stood up again very quickly and swore. But I didn’t scream. These days, I can control the screaming. You know what [...]
People
One of my biggest fears is people. But is shyness a fear or just a temperament? People react to their own nervousness in different ways. Some people talk lots when they’re nervous. They gabble, waffle, crack jokes, say embarrassing things and come to a grinding, flushed halt. Other people don’t talk at all. I’m one [...]
Ratus ratus
I’ve never been afraid of rats. My mother’s mother is afraid of rats. She can pick up a wolf-spider in her bare hands, but rats, mice, or anything of a vaguely similar appearance terrifies her. Bats make her shudder. When my sister and I kept hamsters she would never go into the same room. For [...]
Altophobia and agrophobia
My sister is afraid of heights. I, on the other hand, love heights. When I was small I would climb up to the top of the eight-foot climbing frame in the back garden and jump off just for the hell of it. I would swing on the tree-swing until vertigo overtook me, and I’d snap [...]
On fear
It’s half past one in the morning and I’ve just finished watching Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. I went downstairs to get a drink of warm milk to help me sleep, and freaked out in the dark, running arch-backed through the hall to the kitchen in case someone was hiding in the living room. Laughing at [...]
Oversleep
I suffer from oversleep. No. Don’t laugh. Don’t snort. Don’t scoff. I really do. I’m not a morning person at all. I hate mornings. I don’t hate the actual morningness of the morning. Morning is special. Morning is magical. Seeing the world while it’s still dark, watching the sun come up, listening to every bird [...]
