I read this story on the Bath Chronicle website.
A distraught pet owner believes her missing beloved blind pet rabbit was snatched by a seagull.
Nikki Coker believes Flump disappeared after someone – or something – broke into the hutch in her garden.
And she fears the little white bunny could have been carried off by a hungry seagull.
Worried Nikki thinks it is the third rabbit near her home in Redhill, Surrey, that has gone missing in the past week.
Nikki thinks her blind bunny could have been stolen by a burglar, but the way the hutch was broken into suggests that it could have been breached by a hungry bird.
She said: “I was taking some food out for him and he wasn’t there.
“The back gate was smashed open and all of the hutch doors were wide open.
“My house wasn’t broken into. It seems they just intentionally did it for the rabbit, which is quite strange.”
Nikki contacted the police to report the incident, but was told there was nothing officers can do.
She has also walked around looking for Flump, and printed posters.
The four-year-old rabbit is white and has quite distinctive “milky” eyes.
I love rabbits and it is very sad that one has probably died, but one part of the story doesn’t seem right.
The back gate was smashed open and all of the hutch doors were wide open.
Is it being suggested that a seagull smashed the back gate open, to get to a rabbit?
I can see why the Bath Chronicle reported this story (even though it didn’t happen in Bath). There are some parts of the country, where immigration is wrongly blamed for everything that goes wrong in the world. In Bath, all the locals blame seagulls for any trouble caused in the city.
My time this past week has mainly been spent watching football. Lots and lots of football. I am loving the Euro 2016 tournament and there have only been a few games that I have missed, and this was because I was working while they were on.
Here are my thoughts on the tournament so far. These ramblings only cover England. I will try to blog my other thoughts on the tournament over the next few days…
I watched the Russia game, safely segregated from my meerkats. This match can be summed up in one word. FRUSTRATING! Russia are a poor team, but England struggled to break them down and had to rely upon a free kick from a defender, Eric Dier, to score. Despite the frustrations, I was encouraged by the team’s spirit and work ethic. What I was not encouraged by, is the team being typical England and throwing it all away in the final minute. That’s right, Russia scored with a good, but flukey goal, right at the end. I was so annoyed that night. My annoyance lasted into the following day too, and even into the start of the next week.
The build up to England’s second game against Wales, was huge, massive and enormous – as big as Steve Evans’ underpants, before he lost all the weight. Gareth Bale – the Welsh star player was piping up all week, claiming how Wales had more pride and passion, and how not one England player could get into their team. Go home, Gareth – you’re drunk!
I must admit, I was a little nervous before the game. Not because I think Wales are better than England – they’re not. I was worried because England are England, and have traditionally bottled everything during a major tournament. We haven’t won a knockout game in 10 years, and even that was against Ecuador, who are most famous for sharing their name with a popular dance track from the 1990s. Ten years. TEN YEARS! Just let that settle in for a minute…
Like in the Russia game, England started well. Raheem Sterling missed an absolute sitter. How he is worth £40,000,000, I have no idea. To spice things up and increase the ‘banter’, the BBC stuck proud Welshman, Robbie Savage, on commentary duties. Savage was a crap and annoying football player. He is an equally crap and annoying football commentator.
Wales were OK, but were generally happy to defend, defend, defend. That was, until Wayne Rooney stupidly gave away a needless free kick. To his credit, Rooney has played really well for England during this tournament, but it was still a very silly foul to concede. The predictable shit storm, that always follows England, then erupted. Pissing diarrhoea rained down on every proud Englishman. That’s right, Garteh Bale scored. It was a great goal, and well done to him and Wales, but the England goalkeeper, Joe Hart, should have done a lot better.
Going into the half time break, 1-0 down, things looked bad. The Welsh mocked us, with songs of “England’s going home”. England manager, Roy Hodgson, then performed a miracle (something his critics say he should have done all along), and brought on two of our most attacking players – Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge.
Wales continued to defend and Savage became more and more nervous (and annoying). Midway through the second half, England’s resiliance pays off and Vardy scores. 1-1. Get in. Game on! Wales seemed happy with their draw, and continued with their tactics of ‘parking the bus’. Given the fact they had won their opening game and England had only drawn theirs, a draw against England would be a fantastic result for Wales. Then, something magical happened. In the final minute of the game, Roy’s second substitute, Daniel Sturridge, ran through the Welsh defence and SOMEHOW scored. The stadium erupted, Claire and I (watching on TV) started screaming, there were players and coaches on top of each other – it was mental.
The game ended 2-1. England are top of the group and in with an amazing chance of reaching the second round. It also gives two fingers to both of Garth Bale’s bizarre claims that England have no team spirit and that Wales have better players than us. Think before you speak, Gareth. Chat shit – get banged.
As for Roy Hodgson – he has taken a lot of stick recently. Some of it has been justified. He was criticised for not seeing the game out against Russia, and allowing them to equalise. If he is blamed when things go wrong, surely he should be credited with England’s success. Along with the players, Roy helped us turn the game around yesterday and beat Wales. Well done, Roy! Well done.
England play Russia in their opening game of Euro 2016 tonight. Considering we have an impressive collection of Russian meerkats in our front room, I think it might be a good idea that we segregate them from Claire and myself.
Russian Ultras
The Euros start in just four days. I am very excited. Back in the day, Leeds United would send loads of their players to international tournaments. I remember feeling like a proud father, watching my team’s players representing their country.
Leeds don’t seem to provide many international players these days – mainly because they are rubbish and nobody has faith in a 36 year old, overweight carthorse bringing glory to their country.
Euro 2016 will see one player from Leeds United on the international stage. This player is not 36, overweight or a carthorse. He is a 25 year old, athletic, beast of a man, with a great big bushy beard. His name – Stuart Dallas. One of my favourite current Leeds players (as he is good, he’ll probably be sold next week).
You would be forgiven for thinking that with the skill and talent Stuart boasts, he would be playing for one of the European superpowers like Germany or Spain. He does, in fact, represent Northern Ireland.
So proud am I of Stuart’s callup to the Northern Ireland squad, that I have a Panini sticker of him on my desk at work.
Incidentally, I have also completed the Euro 2016 sticker album. I must admit, that I was tempted to fill every one of the 640 empty spaces in the album, with Stuart Dallas stickers. I didn’t.
Northern Ireland’s greatest every player – sorry, George Best
This is a photo of the wardrobe in my bedroom. There is something wrong with it – take a good look.
Can you see what the problem is?
How about now?
There is a huge spider web on the foot of the ITV Digital Monkey! There is only one place that huge spider webs come from, and that’s huge spiders. The thought of a spider in the bedroom terrifies me.
I really had to rid my bedroom of the spider. But how? I thought up the following solutions…
MORNING BUST
Catch the spider unaware. Come charging towards the wardrobe, tear the monkey from off the top, hopefully with the spider attached to it, and then stamp on the beast or spray it to death with Raid.
Risks: The spider may fall on my head or runaway.
Chances of success: Slim.
OUTSMART THE SPIDER
Outsmarting a spider is difficult. They are more intelligent than people give them credit for. Many a time I have been told “The spider is more scared of you, than you are of it”. This is an urban myth. Spiders are not scared of us. If they were, why would they stroll across our living rooms, flicking us the ‘V sign’, while we watch EastEnders? To follow this method, I would have to make a trap for the spider. Make the hunter become the hunted. To do this, I would catch a small woodlouse from the garden, to use as bait. The woodlouse would then be dropped onto the web. The spider, sensing a free breakfast, would run out of its hiding place, to devour the hero woodlouse. While it is doing this, I would spray it to death with Raid.
Risks: The spider would attack me as I dropped the woodlouse onto its bed. The spider would outsmart me. The spider would run away.
Chances of success: Slim
ASK MY DAD FOR HELP
Dads are great for helping to catch spiders. They are not scared of anything. This rule will change if I ever have a child. Claire’s Dad was the spider catcher when she lived with her parents, and whenever I needed a spider removed from my childhood home, my Dad would always be called upon. With my Dad paying a visit Saturday morning, he could be my hero and destroy the spider. NOTE: By calling my Dad a ‘hero’, I am not comparing him to a woodlouse, which I also referred to as a ‘hero’ in my earlier idea.
Risks: My Dad isn’t scared of spiders, so isn’t careful when catching the spider, and as a result, lets it run away.
Chances of success: Slim
IGNORE IT
While I hate spiders, I know that they are everywhere. Long before spotting the web, I am sure there are spiders in the bedroom. However, I have learnt to live with the philosophy “Out of sight, out of mind”. If I didn’t, I would be forced to live in a plastic bubble all my life. The spider is on top of the wardrobe. While up there, it isn’t going to run across the floor or crawl into bed with me. If I were to disturb it and the spider escaped, it could go anywhere.
In the end I went for the third idea – ASK MY DAD FOR HELP. My Dad is a tall man (so I have no idea why I am only 5 foot 5), but even he can’t see on top of the wardrobe. Using a stepladder, he observed the area, moved the monkey and cleaned up the web. No spider was found. This is kind of a relief, but I am still not convinced. As I said earlier, spiders are clever, not to mention fast. The spider almost certainly heard my Dad coming and made a run for it, long before he even made his ascent up the stepladder. I just hope it doesn’t attack me in the night, in a vicious act of revenge for destroying its web.
About Me
So you stumbled across my blog. No doubt after searching for something bizarre on Google. Before you hit that 'Back Button', why not stay and have a read for a few minutes?
If you are after a website which gives advice on how to hack an iPhone X, download the latest Steven Seagal movie, or view nudy ladies, you've come to the wrong place and may now press 'Back'.
However, if you would like a lifestyle blog, written by a 30-something chap, living in Bath (England), feast your eyes on this.
You won't discover how to copy PlayStation 4 games. What you will find is a blog, covering life in the West Country, the highs and lows of supporting two unsuccessful football teams, while sharing a house with a wife and rabbit.
All written by a man, somewhere on the sanity-scale between normal and eccentric.
