I had a fairly frantic phonecall from Mrs Scunner one afternoon after an incident with a black snake in our garden. The school bus had just dropped the kids off and as they walked in through the gate the driver (who had never once spoken a word of English in 2 years) started shouting, "Black snake!! 2 Metres!! Get in House!!" - well the dog went for the snake, the snake went for the dog, and the dog ran inside.
I went round with a Turkish friend who is absolutely petrified of snakes and we nervously checked the garden, under this and that. Then a carrier bag, it seemed to have something coiled up inside. I got a stick (no way I was opening the bag by hand) and as my friend stood behind me and some distance back, I managed to get the bag on the stick and turn it upside down. We all looked nervously as out slid...no word of a lie...
A bicycle tyre inner tube!!!
Boy did we run backwards at some rate

Never ever saw the snake though
