19 September 2009 (Saturday) - Westwell

I was rather late to bed last night. I’d been asked to perform a special request, and it’s ages since we last did anything on You-Tube. I wonder how long it will be until my latest video is pulled.

Then we got on our bikes – to the rugby club where we met Matt, and then on to Westwell. As we came past Chippy’s house we stopped and tinged our bells in a rather disrespectful manner, but no one came out to rise to the bait, so we pressed on. The Wheel at Westwell is somewhere I’ve not visited for some time, and it was perhaps a little too close to home for a decent cycle out. Joined by the “motorists”, seven of us sat down to “lunch” – and it was good. In the interests of weight loss, I continued the vegetarian lifestyle, and only had the one pint before moving on. The route home was cunningly planned to bring us past the Hare and Hounds where we had a pint of afters. The original plan was to then follow the cycle path back home, but we realised that it would be far more scenic (and not too much of a detour) to follow the lane down to Great Chart. There was a pub there where we could have a beer to reward ourselves for all the cycling – the first beer being to accompany dinner, and the second being afters.

And then home. The neighbours have seen rats in their garden. The man from the council says the rats are probably camping out underneath our shed. They’d have a job – the shed is flat to the concrete patio. There’s nothing under the shed for them to be in. The other neighbour seemed to think the sound of the pond was attracting the rats. He also said that rats are becoming a problem up and down the street since flats were built on the wasteland a few hundred yards away.

He may well have a point, but I’ve not had any problem with rats for a couple of years. Or, perhaps more accurately, I’ve not been aware of any problem. Having said that, it’s very easy to go on the defensive when something like rats is discussed. People have seen rats out there, and something needs to be done. After all, we did have them under the old shed, and we have had mice before. I’ve got a theory that the rats are in our flat roof above the bathroom. I’ve put up some poison and I shall check eBay for ultra sonic rat deterrents. From what I can see on line, the ultra sonic stuff won’t upset the fish, so maybe that would work.

The evening was spent pleasantly drinking continental wheat beers to excess, finally staggering home at 2am. Can’t be bad…