At some point after the mouse in the garden incident and a notable increase in rodent activity around the house (twice I saw them scurrying around the laundry) I put down some rat/mouse poison a few weeks ago.

What I found several days later was a huge, dead rat next to the side gate. ‘Orrible, it was. It was only after I had disposed of it that I realised that to eat the bait, it must have been inside my house. Huge! Eek!

Nothing else appeared to have taken the bait, and when another mouse was noted in the fireplace, I decided it wasn’t working, and threw the remainder out a week ago.

Earlier this week I was sitting on the can just before bedtime when a mouse ran in, saw me, then ran back off through the laundry. It was more scared of me than I of it, but it caught me by surprise. I made a note to find some alternative method of rodent removal — for instance an actual mousetrap, since the mice didn’t appear to be going for the bait.

Then last night it happened again. This time the mouse, obviously feeling much braver, kept going, underneath me, and into a hole in the wall at the back of the toilet.

It gave me rather more of a shock than last time. I jerked my left leg up to avoid the mouse hitting me (or lodging in my shorts, which were on the ground — frankly that would have been beyond terrifying). It was a reflex action, and I actually managed to pull a muscle in the process, leaving me in agony for a few minutes, and cursing under my breath.

So now I’m definitely looking for mousetraps. Or perhaps I should get a cat.