What the - a lunch time distraction

Crikey, what the hell's that? One of the benefits of working outside, is the occasional interesting encounters with nature although I'm not to sure about this lunchtimes rare meeting, what I'm told is it's an Australian orb web wasp spider.

A little more information than I need, since I generally scream like a girl and have to call Mrs Me to deal with wasps or spiders.

Still don't have nightmares as the photo was taken north of the river, in Essex, however they are becoming more common I'm told.