Visitors, some welcome, some not so much!

We've had a few visitors in the last week or so, all of them have taken me by surprise,

not always in a good way!

 

We've had so many birds fall down the sitting room chimney it's like they're (or rather their poo is) part of the furniture! Pretty much every other day I come downstairs to either a baby starling flapping round the room or fluttering away inside the woodburner. And may I say what a mess they make flapping into the walls and windows with their sooty wings!

Every morning I now check the room for new arrivals and chase them to an open window before I even put the kettle on!

 

And this morning, as I made my way down listening out for a flippety flap sound I spotted a pair of shoes by the front door which I didn't recognise, presumably not from a bird (feathered or otherwise!!). I looked around and found an unexpected teenager asleep on a very small sofa, sort of scrunched up ball like! It seems Number 1 son had arrived home in the early hours with a friend in tow. Now in our sitting room we have two large 3-4 seater sofas, we also have a large pouffe which turns into a single bed and Number 1 son has 2 beds in his bedroom. So where did the extra teenager sleep? On the tiny sofa, barely bigger than an armchair in the tiny room with the (still) broken window! When I asked why, apparently number 1 son couldn't think of anywhere else for him to sleep!! Is this the boy who hopes to go to University in the Autumn? Worse than that is this the boy who hopes to make it to Kavos all in one piece later tonight (and home again a week later we hope). Where did he leave his brain? answers on a postcard......

 

But our final visitors have got me a little worried! We have a little courtyard round the back of our house which backs onto a brick outhouse belonging to the neighbours. This is where I feed the birds regularly, well I put seed out for the whole of April, May and June then generally forget until the next April, but I try. We get a lovely selection of pretty birds which I can watch from Little Miss's window or the conservatory.

 

This is the view from Little Miss's room, not very tidy but I quite like it, makes me think of a walled garden, the wall isn't actually ours, the weeds however, are.

 

 But a couple of nights ago as I was pulling the blind, Little Miss and I noticed what we at first thought was a family of squirrels eating the seed and nuts which had spilled onto the floor. Hugely fat, furry and , at first glimpse, cuddly! But on closer inspection, not quite so cuddly!

 Great big, fat rats, several of them.

Are you, like me of the generation who went to bed reading The Rats by James Herbert? I'm just a tad scared! I do find them fascinating and sat watching them for ages, I think there's a whole family living in the brick outhouse, and they didn't seem too scared of me either.

Not really sure what to do, I guess I stop putting bird food out for a start, I don't like the idea of poison. Someone suggested shooting them but as we don't have a gun it's not so easy, I've got a water pistol but that may not have the same effect!

 

Sorry to leave you with those lovely pictures to think about!

 

Thank you to everyone who commented on the previous post, we'll probably stay in a Travelodge in London but any other suggestions are still welcome, I won't be booking until payday!!

 

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See you soon

Jay

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