House Spider

I'm not really keen on spiders; slightly phobic like so many people. It's annoying. I've been trying to overcome it by taking a more scientific interest. 
This is the common house-spider, Tegenaria domestica, which can grow to a considerable (and scary!) size. They are fast movers too. This one was posing nicely so I thought I'd snap it for the blog. It is a male I think: more elongated body and impressive pedipalps. The latter also contain a small chamber for storing semen prior to fertilising the female. 
I confess I didn't have the nerve to pick it up so encouraged it to get off my clothes by annoying it slightly.