Noises in the night and Excideuil

6 March 2013

 

There was something in the room in the very early hours of yesterday morning.  And it sounded like a rather large something – larger than a mouse, anyway.  I dealt with it by putting my head under the bedclothes and hoping it wouldn’t jump on the bed.  Mike was braver and put the light on to investigate.  He couldn’t find the culprit but later decided that it may have been a mouse who had come down the bedroom chimney and been attempting to broach the waste bin in which we put our used morning tea bags.  When we looked later, we found a few nibbled ones behind a cupboard near the bin.     

 
I was telling my sister-in-law Marjorie this story when she phoned from South Africa.  “Have the baboons been back?” I said. “No,” she replied, “No baboons, just the snake that lives under the living room floor.”    “Snake” I say, “What snake?” “Oh perhaps you weren’t here when we saw it.  It’s not a puff adder anyway – just a night adder.  And we’ve tried to block the living room floor up now so it can’t get in”.   Well, just a night adder.   Knowing that when I was visiting would certainly have curtailed my small hour trips to the bathroom – I would have had to cross my legs or invest in a potty.   I am a wuss about creatures of the night whether they be  snakes, mice, rat or anything else that feels like visiting - or even imagined leopards. 


Excideuil Chateau

I didn’t want a large walk yesterday afternoon so took Dolly to Excideuil, round by the river Loue and past the castle.  Excideuil is a small town with some really lovely old buildings.  It has a 12^th century Chateau and a church which has grown up from a 10^th century monastery.  At least I think this is the case.  Whereas the English call the 1200’s, the 13^th century, the French do it the other way round so 15^th century, for example, means 1500’s.  So even reading guides in English it’s impossible to know whether they’ve been written by an English native or a French one.  

 

There’s some old stonework round the church door which is said to be 15^th century, but, of course, could be 16^th.  

 

In the middle of the square is a lovely old fountain which is not currently running.  This is odd as it was running last year when the weather was so bad that it froze mid-stream

 

 

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I called in on Pamela on the way home and she kindly presented me with a large bunch of tulips which is now looking cheerful on the kitchen table.