Hopefully not coming to a neighbourhood near you.

Its been said that no matter where you live, city or countryside, you are never far away from a rodent pest. Now i have a phobia about those pesky little things that run and scuttle about and only seem to come out at night. I am not sure where it comes from because as a kid i loved Tom and Jerry and always rooted for Jerry, now thirty odd years later i find myself hoping that Tom finally nails the little fecker.

Little did i know my phobia was about to be tested this week, living in a village i am always wary this time of year as that is when they seem to make more of an appearance. I sensed i had a visitor living in the garage, the past few days a cat had been sitting on my wall at night in the back garden looking at the side garage door. I wondered if he had just come to deposit his dinner on my back lawn but seeing he was still there an hour later my mouse sense began to tingle. He would swap from the wall to sitting on top of the garage and just look on the floor or at the garage door,

The next day came and i decided i needed to have a look in the garage, now after pleading with the missus to have a look in there instead, i was told not to be a big baby and get my arse in there, so off i went with my trousers tucked into my socks and armed with a shovel. soon as i pulled the door up i could see a little polystyrene nest in the corner, now my garage is long and full of all sorts of stuff. On having a closer inspection i saw a box of garden seed on the floor, with seeds coming out the side, as i went move the box with the shovel a little thing shot out of the box and ran past my legs, well after jumping six foot in the air and screaming like a girl i ran out of the garage.

I now had to act and not being one for humane methods i went out and bought a mouse trap, after nearly losing my fingers setting it, i laid it down in the garage hoping to catch the little blighter. Night came and so did the cat moving from wall to garage roof waiting for something to appear. I went to bed safe in the knowledge the if the trap never caught it the cat would.

The next day the missus asked if i was going to see if we had caught it, trying to put it off for as long as i could and doing a rather good job as well, it was only after the daughter came home from school that i plucked up the courage to open the garage door. Bingo moused had been caught, now came another dilemma how did i touch the trap without touching the dead mouse? A pair of marigolds later i got the trusted shovel and after using it to not only open the trap but scoop the dead mouse onto it as well and walk with dead mouse on outstretched shovel and proceeded to put it into the dustbin of the empty house two doors down the road.

I was just glad no-one saw me.

Now i was told that i should set the trap again just in case we had another one, well night came and the cat turned up and did the same as before, now i was worried we had a plague of mice living in the garage.

Morning came and this time i was feeling braver and discarded the marigolds, again i opened the door and there was another fecker, i stood there gobsmacked only this time my daughter crept up behind me and nearly gave me another heart attack after seeing it she said poor mouse daddy its got his head stuck. go inside i told her while i free it and let it go. I am pretty sure she knew it was dead.

Well again i deposited a dead mouse into number two's dustbin so it could play with its mate and once again i set the trap. Last night came and like clockwork so did the cat. Now this really started to freak me out and and i seemed to look out of the kitchen window every fifteen minutes to see if the cat was still there, and it was. I was not looking forward to opening the garage door this morning, but i did and to my surprise no mouse.

This got me thinking maybe they had got wary of cheese and wanted something else, so i sprung the trap and put some chocolate on there instead. Tonight has come and the cat is back, not sure if it knows something or is just a dumb cat but its still sitting on the wall looking at the side garage door.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow...

Well today i looked in the garage and the trap has not been sprung, so i have left it there and i can sleep easier tonight in the knowledge that we are not being overrun by rodents. In fact the cat has not even appeared tonight.

That is all.