ACHC

I'm terrified of two things - stairs and spiders. And both fears sometimes keep me up at night or even wake me up at night. When I say terrified of stairs - what I mean is falling down them. I hold onto hand rails like a little old lady, shuffling carefully down one step at a time. I also never allow Nigel to hold my hand or walk down stairs behind me as I'm fearful that he'll come a cropper and take me down with him as well. Sometimes the imagination of falling is so strong that I involuntarily groan out loud - which can be very embarrassing when you're eating your cream cheese bagel. And though it sounds like I'm making this up - I can assure you that this is an actual real affliction that other mad people have as well and to prove it, it's even got it's own official name - Climacophobia and so what with that scourge coupled with my other one - arachnophobia - going to MOMA the other day was a helluva commitment as there was a 5 meter high spider that could be seen from all 4 floors. I only had a look at it partially hiding behind Nigel before I took the lift to the ground floor and the safety of the MOMA cafe for a steadying hot chocolate.