WHISPERING SMITH: Web’s rash of reasons for avoiding Incy-Wincy

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’s Flower Bowl, or chatting to friends in 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 Concert Band’ Picnic in the Park is on Caffyns Field at 7.30pm on the 18th 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.