Dangers of an Idle Mind

As I pushed open the solid white door I had a feeling something wasn’t quite right. There was an unfamiliar smell. However, it was relatively early on Saturday and I was in my third European country this week so you have to make some allowances. I moved through the small anteroom with its hand basins and into the next room. It was odd that there were only two, both vacant, cubicles but it was a small place in an out of the way corner of the Dusseldorf airport so it is possible they just used the space wisely. I pushed open the door to the nearest cubicle and locked it behind me. Once inside I looked around and realised that even in a European toilet, a disposal unit for feminine hygiene items was not normal in a man’s lavatory. Oh boy! Now I was in trouble. I’m in a ladies toilet in a German Airport. But I was sure I had passed the door to the ladies right next to the door I had just come through. Regardless, my major concern was now ‘How was I going to get out of here’? Should I just ...

I was born and raised in a city and I have lived in cities all my life so coming to Connecticut has been a bit of a shock. One thing about being raised in a city is, excluding pigeons, drunks and other humans, there is very little wildlife. I did see a rabbit in Chicago once and a few rats and mice in the London Underground but pretty much that was it. So now we live in a much more rural environment. For instance our house has a grass bank which slopes gently down to a small road about 30 yards away. From our large kitchen window you can sit and watch the trees and the occasional car. It’s a pretty peaceful scene really. Then one Saturday morning in early April, while we sat eating breakfast by the window, we were intrigued to see a small critter poking a cute reddish brown head out of a hole. We watched him for a while and then he darted away and disappeared but next day he was back again. As he clearly lived nearby I decided he needed a name and after much discussion we deemed that ‘...