Discovering a new life in Costa Almeria

A couple of nights ago, we had a fabulous clear sky and a million stars twinkling, so I was tempted to sit outside for a while and gaze. People keep telling me how many shooting stars we see up here because of the clarity of the skies due to the absence of any street lights, house lights and any other type of lights, but so far I haven't seen any. Maybe if I sat for a while I would see my first.

As I sat I became aware of a scratching noise close by. I know we have mice living near the house and they don't worry me so I started to listen closely to see whether I could work out where they were.

As my hearing focused in, I realised that the scratching was coming from inside the bonnet of my car! Now, I have a pact with the mice, the same as I do with spiders: I don't have a problem with them PROVIDING they remain outside the house. That ruling stretches to include my car.

I called to Neil to come and listen, just to make sure I was hearing right, and he agreed - the noises were definitely coming from under the bonnet.

I ran over to the car and hammered on the bonnet making enough noise to wake the dead in the hope I would frighten the mice away. As we listened, the scratching stopped but the entire valley was suddenly filled by every dog in the area howling and barking at this sudden noise that had woken them all from their slumbers.

We waited a little longer and still heard no more scratching so I started the car up and moved him away from the front of the house, where there are mouse holes.

The following morning I went down to our local store that sells fertilisers, poisons etc and explained in my best Spanish that I had mice that were eating my car. I expected a response, but not the one I got. 'Claro! Vives en el Campo'. Of course, you live in the Campo.

What I thought to be an unusual event turns out to be perfectly normal and well known by most people, just not us. They are known for nibbling through cables and can lead to some very expensive repairs. He showed me some pale blue tablets and told me I needed to put several under the bonnet in nooks and crannies where they wouldn't fall out and the mice would nibble them and, then he stopped talking and simply stroked his finger across his throat signifying my mouse problem would be no more.

Back at the house we did as instructed and also pushed a tablet down each of the mouse holes in the hope that we could combat the attack.

2 days later we took our big car in for a service, only to be told that the mice had been in there too, but so far only nibbled at items of insulation rather than cables or other rather important items. So, having put more blue tablets around the engine we hope we have controlled the situation and will make sure to check the tablets from time to time and replace as necessary.

Whatever next?