Whispering Smith published in thwe Littlehampton Gazette May 9th. 2013

ONE OF MY fellow allotmenteers was bitten on the neck by an allotment spider that found its way into and under his tee shirt. The bite blistered and was, he tells me, extremely sore causing him considerable discomfort. I didn’t know we had any venomous spiders resident in the UK so I quickly checked this imagined fact on the internet. Oh deary me, it appears there are over a dozen including the most dangerous of all ominously named the False Widow. This fellow can do you some real damage and one lady came very close to losing a hand because of an infected bite. Uhmm, it would seem that even little money spiders are not all they make out to be and are really offering a tingling rash rather than any jingling cash. So, no more bravado from me around them there critters and should my daughter ever call for help in removing one from the bath, as is a common cry when visiting my home for the weekend, she is, sadly, on her own!

MY FRIENDS and I will miss Kitty Webb, miss seeing her around LA in her blue raincoat pushing her little wheeled shopping bag among the Tesco and  Sainsbury shelves, buying flowers for the river in the Arcade Flower Bowl or chatting to friends in the High Street. But, most likely we would see her simply sitting on a bench by the Arun in sunshine or in shadow looking out across the river to where her late husband’s fishing boat was once moored. Once she told me it was only an hour to her wedding anniversary and another time of her early days in Malta during the siege. Sometimes we would see her dozing in the warm sunshine or simply in a reverie and we would not stop to chat or disturb her but knowing that she wouldn’t really mind if we did. So long Kitty, we hope you and Cecil are now together again and riding upon calm waters.

CORRECTION. As advised in last week’s column, the Littlehampton Town Band’s concert, The Picnic in the Park, is on Caffyns Field at 7.30 on the 18^th of this month. Please note that is a SATURDAY evening and not Friday as I mentioned. Somehow I got my mays duddled up! See you there and bring a picnic.