Now I know how Lady Macbeth felt

So, last night I finally got round to going swimming, after talking about doing it for weeks. While fishing the travel size shampoo etc out of my backpack to bring with me I noted a distinct and not at all pleasant odour. So I pulled out the chair and had a look in case the cats had left a little something there for later but couldn't see anything. Figured maybe it was coming from outside somewhere as the chair is just below the window and went off to the pool (more on that anon).

Just before I went to bed I remembered something else I wanted out of the backpack and noted in the big front pocket (there are 2) that not only was there still The Smell but also dampness. Initially I thought maybe the shampoo/shower gel had leaked, but no cleansing product I've used has smelt quite like THAT, so I thought maybe I left something edible in the little front pocket. No idea what, but maybe. So I stick my hand in to investigate, only to withdraw it shrieking and cursing when I find a dead mouse. A very dead mouse indeed. A very dead and very stinky mouse.

Once the gag reflex has settled (it was VERY stinky) and I have scrubbed my hand with dettol, Out damn spot! Out I say I manage to steel my nerves and sacrifice the barbeque tongs to remove the ex-mouse. Why do I even HAVE barbeque tongs? I am not sure. But luckily I do and with the aid of them and a plastic bag I remove the remains and hastily fling them into the bin, along with the tongs, then go back inside to scrub my hands again Here's the smell of the mouse still to remove any Mouse Taint.
Even now thinking about it, my hand is twitchy and I am fighting the compulsion to run off and scrub it some more, What, will these hand's ne'er be clean? just in case. After all, there is still some skin left...

Then I went to bed, in a state that can only be described as EW. Tonight I shall have to take whatever else is left in the bag and bin it Who would have thought the old mouse to have had so much blood in him?, which is a shame because it was a very handy bag for weekends and stuff. Bloody cats.

What I'd love to know is
A. how long had it been there pinin' for the - what do mice pine for, holes? I'm thinking since the weekend, and
B. how the hell did it get in there? Did it escape the cats with its dying breaths and crawl in there to bleed to death, or did they put it in there for safe keeping and forget? Or as a lovely surprise/act of revenge for me buggering off to Dublin over the weekend? It was certainly a Surpise, I'll give them that.
From now on must remember to keep all bags firmly shut.
I'd also like to know where they're getting all these bloody mice from in the first place.

Maybe I should give up and go back to having fish. Fish never left me dead things. I liked the fish. Well except when I would turn round and all 3 of them would be in a row starting at me, that was freaky. But on the whole the fish were model pets.
The cats killed them :(

Swimming!

Got overcome with mouse queasiness in the last post *scrubscrubscrub*, so forgot about the swimming.

Finally made it to the pool and since I need incentive to keep going, I thought I would post here for a bit, following vashti's lead.

It is many years since I swum (swam?) regularly, used to go off at lunchtime, jump in, do 30 lenghts, get out & go back to work. Last night I did manage to do around 30 (lost count) but not all at once! The most I could manage without stopping was 6, so still a way to go there. Still, 30+ lenghts of a 25m pool isn't bad going - 800m or so?

The pool isn't open to the public every night, but they do have aqua aerobic type things on some nights too, so I might try that, looks like fun.

But tonight, it is cinema not exercise - Batman Begins.