An Orkney update

I used to rent this Croft in the 1970s.  Since then someone (no name, no paracetamol) has installed an ill advised and mismanaged heating scheme.  (The peedie shed contains a candle and a man with a pair of bellows). 


I rented it from Ethel Young, teacher in Stromness.  I slept in a box bed, but sleep  was frequently disturbed by a moose running along the roof of the bed.  The next time l was at JMF Groats emporium in Longhope l bought a moose trap. 


One night l set and baited the trap, then extinguished the Tilley lamp.  (No hydro until late 80s).  In the middle of the night l was woken by the trap being sprung.  But l couldn't sleep as the trap was being dragged around the stone floor.  I grabbed a torch and took out my lump hammer from my bag of tools.  I put a very large rat out of its misery;  turned out the torch and had a good kip. 


On awakening the next morning l noticed there was a large arc of blood up the whitewashed chimney breast. About a month later l still couldn't believe how many coats of whitewash it took to hide the blood.


I didn't tell Ethel until my Silver Wedding party.  She thought it was a hoot.  She even asked me if l gave the rat a decent burial.