Mouse

 We buy birdseed in bulk because it's cheaper- and we get through a lot of it. I keep it in the shed in a big black plastic box- or rather- I did unto today. The box has a couple of hinged flaps that meet in the middle to form a lid- and there's the tiniest gap on either side where the flaps and the side of the box come together. Recently I've been noticing that something with sharp little teeth has been improving the gap- and the day before yesterday I found it,  at the bottom of the box, running round in a panic and trying and failing to climb the sides. I had a go at scooping it out but it went too fast for me, so I affronted its dignity by lifting it out by its tail.

I like mice. I had a stuffed toy/imaginary friend called Mouse when I was a kid. He had one glass eye, having lost the other and a fair bit of stuffing in an unfortunate encounter with my father's motor mower. I'm not going to say that The Mouse is my totem animal but I have a bond with them. I'd never set a trap...

The black box will be going to the tip. It's being replaced by a couple of white plastic buckets with lids...