Hammy, the Night Visitor

Yesterday's mounting evidence that there was a rodent loose in the building:

1. Two nights of scratching, scrabbling, and gnawing sounds in the ceiling above our bed.
2. The discovery of a pile of rubble--wall bits, rock, and dust--below a pipe in the bathroom. Upon investigation, Steve declared that this was the result of a rat hole.
3. The appearance of a small, furry face from behind the bookcase in the living room.

The rodenty noises at night and the discovery of the hole had already worked me up to quite a state, and I was moaning about our new accommodation and reminding Steve about that scene from The Lady and the Tramp when the rat tries to bite/kill the baby when I spotted the animal face, so I don't think my reaction was an OVER-reaction when I screamed and ran into the bedroom to cry about living in a vermin-infested tenement.

Steve was left to tend to the creature and I could hear him talking sweetly to it and offering it nuts and seeds. A few minutes later he guided me back to the room to introduce me to our "special guest" who he had named Hammy. Hammy, the escaped hamster, who wandered away from home (the flat above us) two days ago. His owners were very pleased to have him returned. I was very pleased that he was not a wild rat planning to give me rabies.  But I do not miss him.