Not long after moving in I realised we were not alone. There was definite evidence of mice – little droppings everywhere, as well as unused mouse-traps hidden under the sink and in the hot-press (which is in the living room). At night I could hear scratching in the walls. It was nearly Christmas, the tree was decorated and presents were lying underneath it. I woke up to find one of the presents had been slightly opened. My first thought was to blame Tadhg but he denied it. Then I blamed the dogs, but this was a small hole in the packet, the dogs would have torn it apart. Three days before Christmas, too early to open presents but I had to investigate. I opened it to find a large box of chocolates, with two layers. One corner of the box had been eaten and on closer inspection some of the chocolates were missing from both layers, again I accused Tadhg, afterall it was chocolates! Two holes in the top layer where chocolates should have been. 18 chocolates were missing! None of the remaining chocolate showed any signs of being nibbled, but surely Tadhg would rip open the box and eat the lot. Tadhg blamed the mice.

One day, after Christmas, I was opening the curtains in the living room when I noticed a piece of pipe on the floor outside by the kitchen door. I went out to investigate. It was a section of the waste pipe from the washing machine. There was a hole in the wall where the waste pipe had been pushed through and then diverted into an actual pipe. I could see through into the kitchen! I needed a plumber! Why would mice chew through a piece of plastic pipe when they could easily fit through the hole? A few days later all became clear. I was sitting watching TV in the living room, both dogs lying on the sofa beside me, Tadhg had gone down to the river for a quick dip before dinner. It was early evening. I saw something move on the floor behind the TV. And there it was. Staring at me. My mouth dropped, I stared at it. Neither of us moved. Then the rat looked away from me and boldly walked into the middle of the living room floor. At this point, both dogs woke up, flew off the sofa, barking their heads off and chased the rat. The rat turned tail and ran back under the TV and into the hot press. The dogs almost knocked the TV stand over trying to get behind it to get into the hot press. I opened the hot press door only to find a big hole in the concrete on the floor where the water pipes enter the house. So that’s where the rat gets in! Another job to add to the list. I quickly made a call to Dublin to arrange to have the cats brought home. They had work to do!