I heard a news item on the radio today about some poor chap (a chef) somewhere in the UK who was cleaning up in his work kitchen, when he picked up a cloth and squeezed it. He felt a sharp pain, dropped the cloth and out fell a spider. He grabbed the spider with his other hand and was bitten by it so he realised the sharp pain was also a bite.

The spider turned out to be a Brazilian wandering spider, more deadly than a black widow. The man’s life was saved because he photographed it on his mobile phone and the hospital were then able to identify the poison and administer the correct antidote.

The spider had got into the pub’s kitchen in a banana box. This is another twist to the be careful of your food tale. It’s obviously a complete fluke really, though these stories are not by any means unique.

So, the moral of this story is photograph your food – you never know when you might find you need it! A couple of months ago, I saw an article in a Sunday Colour Supplement of a newspaper. It was a story about a man who had photographed everything he’d eaten for a year and was making them into a book.

There was a selection of the pictures he’d taken in the article and I must say that as pictures they were terrible – mostly just the camera shoved in front of the plate and lit by on-board flash. What was fascinating was the crap he was eating – often for days in a row surviving on crisps, cakes and confectionery. It felt deeply voyeuristic and intrusive looking at it all.

I bought this basil yesterday and decided I was going to have a go at photographing it in a different style from my usual one. I’m still on a mission to get one of my shots in a Delia book. (Well, I can dream, can’t I?) So, here it is, from a different perspective.

Now…..I wonder how much chemical pesticide is on those leaves…..and how much chemical growth stimulator?

Depressing thought really for something that looks so fab.

Two years ago we were at WHL for the Moan Utd game and last year I was warbling away to myself and causing DM pain!