As the expression goes, “lightning never strikes twice in the same place,” but when it comes to spiders, our fanged, eight legged freaks don’t play by the rules of expressions. That’s the only way I can explain the unfortunate saga of a 21-year-old construction worker in Australia who made headlines back in April after being bitten right on the ding dong by a venomous redback spider — closely related to the black widow — while using a portable toilet at a building site in Sydney. At the time, the man’s identity was not released, however, a spokesperson for St. George Hospital confirmed that he was being treated for the bite.
And now, incredibly it has happened to the same guy, again. Now identified as “Jordan” (for some reason he didn’t want to give his last name), the worker reveals to the BBC that he was bitten “pretty much the same spot” as before.
“I’m the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment,” he told the BBC. “I was sitting on the toilet doing my business and just felt the sting that I felt the first time. I was like ‘I can’t believe it’s happened again.’ I looked down and I’ve seen a few little legs come from around the rim.”
After the first incident, Jordan says he had been wary of using portable toilets and “didn’t really want to use one again.” But this time, he had decided to give it another shot.
“Toilets got cleaned that day and I thought it was my opportunity to go use one. Had a look under both seats and then I sat down did my business. Next thing you know, I’m bent over in pain.”
Jordan isn’t sure that it was a redback that bit him this time, but went to the hospital anyway just to get checked out. He says that his coworkers were worried about him the first time it happened, but this time they were less sympathetic, making jokes as he was getting in the car.
He added that this will probably be the last time he ever uses a portable toilet: “I think I’ll be holding on for dear life to be honest.”
(Via BBC)