{"id":2318,"date":"2013-01-01T01:13:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-31T16:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2012-12-18T14:49:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T05:49:41","slug":"special-feature-in-honour-of-the-year-of-the-snake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/2013\/01\/special-feature-in-honour-of-the-year-of-the-snake\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Feature:<\/b> In honour of the Year of the Snake"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going to write a nice entry about the snakes found in and around Japan given we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just entered \u00e5\u00b7\u00b3\u00e5\u00b9\u00b4\u00ef\u00bc\u02c6\u00e3\u0081\u00bf\u00e3\u0081\u00a9\u00e3\u0081\u2014; midoshi\u00ef\u00bc\u2030, okay, not if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on the Chinese calendar proper, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not in China, so meh. Then I remembered that snakes freak me out a bit. I started looking at pictures and information, then decided to stop because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want \"\"<\/a>scary dreams. I thought that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d got a lot better recently, but I think all the adorable snake presents and \u00e5\u00b9\u00b4\u00e8\u00b3\u20ac\u00e7\u0160\u00b6\u00ef\u00bc\u02c6\u00e3\u0081\u00ad\u00e3\u201a\u201c\u00e3\u0081\u0152\u00e3\u0081\u02dc\u00e3\u201a\u2021\u00e3\u0081\u2020; nengajou\u00ef\u00bc\u2030have merely served to distract me. The real snakes are all cold and probably curled up in their little nests waiting for the winter to pass. Then they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll sniff the air in a few more months\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time, realize it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s THEIR year and come out to play again.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking forward to it. I really am. Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you tell how excited I am about it all? Sigh.<\/p>\n

I know exactly when my snake issues started. I was watching some kind of nature program on the BBC (god love you David Attenborough) and they were examining a dead snake. They had to kill it because there was a human sized lump residing in its belly and they needed to check if it was indeed a person, or another unfortunate animal. It turned out to be a boar, but that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change the fact that it could have been a person<\/em>. Swallowed whole. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the mouth thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all that stretching, that started me not liking them. The not liking them being poisonous came later, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fairly certain the root cause of snake dislike is the elastic mouth factor. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an issue with spiders in the slightest after all; the other \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcoccasionally going to kill you with a bite having hidden in your house\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 animal that people tend not to be fans of.<\/p>\n

Also freaks me out how fast they can move despite the lack of feet.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And that they can swim \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we come to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcImogen snake freak out part 1\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. I was 11, in a kayak on a very small pond (the Bomb Hole at Gilwell Park if anyone knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty unlikely ><) and an adder decided it wanted to go for a swim; right next to my boat. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care if it couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have got into the boat, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a very stable kayaker and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to get in the water with it. It was very close to me, and that was most definitely where I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want it to be. I think that was the first time I ever had a panic attack (and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had maybe 3 in my life \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of which was caused by claustrophobia in a clouding-up paintball mask, but there you go. Point being, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tend to get panicky about things that often). I paddled hell for leather away from the snake and got out of the kayak as soon as I could. The instructor was very bemused as no-one else had seen the little shit that was causing me such stress. Then I pointed him out as he made his way up the bank of the little island in the centre of the little pond. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t crazy and just seeing things at least\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Subsequent snake instances have generally been related to them popping up when I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect it. Happily hiking along a road with my brother in Taiwan and BAM; snake next to my foot. Jumped a mile, actually squealed, and then realized that it was dead. It had been squished in the middle by a bike\/car\/very heavy person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s foot so it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t looked dead when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d glanced down and seen it mere centimeters away from my appendage. I therefore feel justified in my reaction *shifty eyes*. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a fair few similar experiences out running in Japan too. There was one instance of live snake, but I spotted it in advance and gave it a very wide birth. I have jumped out of my skin at dead ones too, of course, and always pay a lot more attention to where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going just after an \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcincident\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in case the next one isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/em> dead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
After a moment of panic, I went back for the picture (snake slightly preoccupied and therefore less scary)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biking has not been immune to snakes either. The worst was nearly running over one, only to spot its two friends hovering nearby (okay, not hovering, that would be a whole new level of hell). I think I spent a good 2 minutes cycling along hyperventilating and swearing under my breath. Hiking with friends I was very, very glad that I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the lead and one of my companions was therefore the one who frightened away the mamushi that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been laying across the path. Going up to school wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a fun one (another \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclook down and lo, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a snake!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 moment) but luckily it was lunchtime rather than the morning, and students were all up in the main school. Ever since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve walked closer to the centre of the school driveway.<\/p>\n

To be fair on myself, and the snakes, I still think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pretty cool, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really only when I<\/p>\n

don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spot them in advance that I have issues. If I know there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one around I will even approach it, have a good look, and take a few pictures as lots other people would. This is all probably quite blas\u00c3\u00a9 for some, a normal human reaction being described, I would \"\"<\/a>imagine. Slightly odder, perhaps, was my reaction to eating cobra curry then. I was genuinely hesitant to tuck in, and I think it was because I thought curried snake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friend was going to pop out and attack me in a rage. Or that the curried snake was somehow going to reform in my stomach and get me from the inside. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strange how brains work sometimes. Safe to say, neither happened and the curry was pretty tasty (though the cobra on the chewy side).<\/p>\n

I know there are lots of people who like snakes too. One of my students is quite a fan of our reptile friends and was telling me about one of the snakes you can find in Hyogo that has two types of poison \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of its own and one it steals. Now it might not be news to some people, and it might be a common trait in other snakes too, but I thought it was pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What I would like to see more of.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It eats poisonous toads and siphons off the poison for later use. How clever is that? However much I dislike them for destorying my usually calm and collected persona, they can be pretty amazing animals. Did anyone else see the news about black mamba poison possibly making a better painkiller than morphine without the side effects? Snakes are great. They just need to be more diligent about announcing their presence politely, rather than springing it on you like the occassional, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcoh, you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the lesson schedule had changed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that we all know and love.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to try and use this year as a good excuse to stop being silly about snakes. Who knows, I might even be able to stop thinking I can only go hiking if wearing jeans (despite the fact its August and over 30 degrees) and boots. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to hoping, and good years all round, snake-filled or otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was going to write a nice entry about the snakes found in and around Japan given we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just entered \u00e5\u00b7\u00b3\u00e5\u00b9\u00b4\u00ef\u00bc\u02c6\u00e3\u0081\u00bf\u00e3\u0081\u00a9\u00e3\u0081\u2014; midoshi\u00ef\u00bc\u2030, okay, not if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on the Chinese calendar proper, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not in China, so meh. Then I remembered that snakes freak me out a bit. I started looking at pictures and information,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":2322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[318,107],"tags":[319],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Mamushi-not-so-cute.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}