Mouse in the House

In the excitement of a visit to the plot, it's remarkably easy to forget things that you wanted to take with you. For me, this applies even to such things as the actual packet of seeds I was going there to plant in the first place. I have now invested in a camo bodywarmer, which as well as making me feel manly, has numerous pockets for me to keep things I always need, like my penknife and bits of string.

To further combat forgetfulness and to reduce the weight of things to carry on my bike, I leave my old walking boots and a waterproof coat in the shed. Unfortunately the coat got taken over by all sorts of creepy crawlies in the autumn and was chucked out. The boots are still there, but I favour wellies at this time of year as the clay sticks like the proverbial sh*t to a blanket. However, as you can no doubt guess, I forgot my wellies last week.

The boots always receive a careful pre-use inspection, especially since I was scared out of my skin by a mouse hiding under a hessian sack. Thankfully, I did not find a mouse. No, during last week's check I found 4 peanuts, carefully stored for future use by some small allotment resident! I tipped them out and left them in a little pile, which was gone by the time I returned. It is a strange feeling to be sharing my shed with invisible guests.