A Breakfast Vole

I was eating breakfast in the kitchen at half past eight this morning. It was very quiet - Adrian had long since left for work at the cheese factory and Clare was still asleep upstairs, as was the cat in the back bedroom. My eye was caught by a small furry ball ambling nonchalantly into the kitchen (below).

For a moment our eyes locked as I imagined what a tiring night the vole must have had being chased around the house and juggled by the cat. I slowly got up and unlocked the kitchen and patio doors to let the poor thing escape. When I returned to my cereal the vole had hidden somewhere.

Five spoonfuls later my curiosity took control. I wandered over to the computer equipment to see if I could find the poor thing. There it was, snuggled up on top of a warm power supply block. I poked it - it wouldn't move. So I leaned down and picked it up; it still didn't move a muscle. The vole was deposited on the grass outside, and was last seen scuttling into the bushes.

You may infer a certain degree of non-verisimilitude in the above images. To be honest, I was a little too occupied to play around with the camera, so this was what I believe is called in CSI-speak a 'reconstruction'?