One evening last week I was sitting in the livingroom watching telly, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed there was something running quite fast across the rug. My first thought was 'mouse!' We've had a few mice in the past, and they tend to appear towards the end of the year. Anyway, I turned to look for it and no, it was a f***ing big spider. It disappeared under the sofa bed I was sitting on.

I went off to get a torch, and coming back I shone the light under the sofa. I expected it to be long hidden by then so I was looking off towards the far ends of the sofa, but then I realised it was just a few centimetres from my face and staring right back, flexing it's mandibles.

After recovering from that second shock, I managed to coax it out from there, and it ran off again really fast. Fortunately though, it ran to the sideboard which doesn't have any gaps to hide in or under. Trapped it in a glass and put it outside quite far away from the flat. I know they're completely harmless, but large ones like that just freak me out.

I'm wondering if it was disturbed by a mouse try to find it's way in. I've been hearing some very faint scuffling noises these last few evenings.