Millipede World
February 21st 2008 21:00
On a recent trip back to my parents’ home, I was amazed at the number of millipedes outside the house. I could not walk a metre without seeing another one on the steps or the ground or on the wall. It was quite creepy watching them crawl around. And when my mother tried to brush them away with a broom, instead of falling down the balcony or the stairs, they curled up into little balls. It reminded me of a long-forgotten phobia I have: millipede phobia. Because they look like caterpillars, which I have a huge phobia of, I am also afraid of millipedes. In fact, I am afraid of any thing that has more than four legs and no spine. With the exception of lobsters, I am also afraid of any thing that is made up of segments. Come to think of it, I am even afraid of things with no legs – slugs, snails and certain sea creatures give me the willies.
So how did I forget about my fear of millipedes? Easy. When I moved to Sydney, I’ve never come across any millipedes (touch wood) which made it easy to forget about this phobia. It was definitely a case of out of sight; out of mind. I’ve also noticed there are fewer caterpillars in Sydney.
On the second day of my trip, I saw more millipedes which finally led me to nickname my parents’ place Millipede World. As kids we used to call them centipedes even though I knew from looking at encyclopaedias that they were actually millipedes. Speaking of which, my sister said one day she and my mum spotted a real centipede in the garden and stayed well away from it in case they got bitten.
So how did I forget about my fear of millipedes? Easy. When I moved to Sydney, I’ve never come across any millipedes (touch wood) which made it easy to forget about this phobia. It was definitely a case of out of sight; out of mind. I’ve also noticed there are fewer caterpillars in Sydney.
On the second day of my trip, I saw more millipedes which finally led me to nickname my parents’ place Millipede World. As kids we used to call them centipedes even though I knew from looking at encyclopaedias that they were actually millipedes. Speaking of which, my sister said one day she and my mum spotted a real centipede in the garden and stayed well away from it in case they got bitten.
Photo by Itshears. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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