Just a handful of old rope...

I dropped it again pretty quick though!

I had a tenant who was from Canberra Australia. While gathering sticks as a teenager, he inadvertently grabbed an eastern brown snake, about the worst thing available there. He quickly got rid of it and is far more cautious now.

I did the same thing with a bit of pipe here in France:-)
A grass snake as it turned out
I have been bitten and spent two weeks in hospital in the UK after been bitten by an adder but I knew what I was picking up ( and saving from some stupid boys )

David