Roland’s nags and nails: kept awake by a rogue rabbit
It’s not unusual to arrive at our first shoeing appointment of the day and there to be no sign of anyone around. Normally the customer is still in bed. A few sharp taps on the door usually breathes life into the household.
The customer will either pretend they were not sleeping and fake being awake despite their blurry eyes, which can be quite amusing, or they will just be honest and come clean . . . which is what one of our customers did last week, but that wasn’t the end of the story.
She explained that she had had a terrible night’s sleep as there was something scratching intermittently somewhere in her bedroom. She thought it was probably a mouse as every 20min or so it would scratch and then go quiet.
Now if you’re the sort of person that is happy with a mouse in your bedroom, then a bit of occasional scratching should not stop you from having a good night’s sleep, but if you’re truly appalled by the idea of a mouse in your bedroom, as was the case with this customer, then it can really keep you up!
All night this blighter would stop and start its blessed scratching and all night the lady was trying to manage her fear of this creature biting her toes on her way to the bathroom, or even worse getting into bed with her.
I’ll never actually understand how this was possible, but when she finally did get up a few minutes before we arrived, a rabbit bolted from underneath her pillow and wedged itself behind the wardrobe.
All night long this rabbit (not a pet one — a wild one!) had been sheltering under her pillow and the scratching coming from somewhere inside the bedroom was actually the rabbit twitching about 2in from her ear. Can you believe it?!
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As we left for our next appointment, we watched the customer enter her house with a broom. The rabbit had clearly outstayed its welcome.
Until next week
Roland
www.twitter.com/nagsandnails
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Roland owned a computer software business until he realised he didn't want to be stuck behind a desk for the rest of his working life. So in 2011 he started the four-year apprenticeship to become a farrier on the borders of Somerset, Devon and Dorset. He became fully qualified in 2014.