Readers’ Letters

Room was wrecked by a tiny intruder

MY wife and I were watching TV one evening recently when she suddenly let out a scream.

She pointed to a wooden chest below the window. “A m-m-mouse!” she stammered.

I got up and pulled the chest out and a tiny mouse darted away behind a bean bag, so I tossed that behind me and the creature made a dash for the couch. I kneeled down and peered underneath and could see it trying to hide. So I tipped the couch on to its front and made a lunge for the beastie — but it was too fast for me.

By this time my wife had fetched a glass tumbler to catch it in.

The mouse was leading us on a merry dance, scurrying here and there as we followed, pulling out furniture and tossing things aside to try and capture it.

Finally we cornered it behind the same chest where the wild mouse chase had begun. My wife ushered it from one end while I held the glass at the other end — and at last our tormentor was caught.

I took it to some woods and let it go. But when I returned the room looked like it had been ransacked by a gang of crazed burglars. And all because of a tiny mouse.

And the most galling thing of all was our cat, Lori, slept through the whole drama on the armchair!

Some mouser she is.

Lewis McKechnie, Kirkcaldy.

YOU DON’T expect to find two elephants up against a wall in the quiet wee village of Dunshelt in Fife do you? Personally, I think it’s absolutely brilliant. I wish I’d thought of this, or had the skill to do it.

Douglas Harvey, Perth.

No shame

WITH THE man in the street being mercilessly taxed, it’s obscene that civil servants have been awarded a massive £128 million in bonuses even although they grossly under-performed. The MoD, who failed in their duty to protect our armed forces in conflicts in the Middle East, awarded themselves £41m. This must be a bitter pill for our forces to swallow, especially for those who have lost comrades. Other departments that failed miserably were awarded a total of £87 million. Does this government have no shame?

R. Saunders, Walsall.

Cash classes

AS SOCIETY changes there are calls for relevant changes in our school curriculum. None could be more relevant, surely, than the need to teach today’s youngsters about the value of money and financial products and services, especially with the present financial “squeeze”. How long before our children have as their homework an assignment on Sunday Post columnist Martin Lewis — the renowned expert on all matters financial?

John Bannon, Prestwick.

Unwelcome

I WAS woken up the other night in the wee small hours by what felt like my wife tickling my stomach. I was due to get up for an early shift a few hours later and was none too pleased at her waking me. What on earth was she playing at, I wondered as I turned to complain. But then I realised she was fast asleep and facing the other way, so it wasn’t her after all. I whipped back the covers to reveal . . . a huge black spider scuttling about on my belly! Arrrggghh! Guess who was next to be woken up — this time by my none-too-manly screams?

Robert Davidson, Dumfries.

Well done!

I WAS walking down the street when I saw an older teenager snatch a younger boy’s mobile phone and walk off triumphantly. But before he could get away a middle-aged woman ordered him to hand it back. The lad seemed about to hurl some abuse at her, until two men walked over and stood menacingly by the woman’s side. The yob trudged back with his tail between his legs and gave the phone back before scuttling off. It’s a sign that society can stand up to these young thugs.

Mrs R. Donald, Glasgow. 

 

“It must be great living
next to a golf course.”

A Piece of My Mind

THE CURRENT furore over the inferior weaponry of British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the Snatch Land Rover coming in for special criticism, is nothing new. The British Government has been guilty of such negligence before.
I have just returned from Normandy and the horrific tales of British and American casualties caused directly by the superiority of German weapons met me at every turn.
In his book, Overlord, Max Hastings quotes an estimate that it took five British or American tanks to knock out one German. 
Our most used tank in Normandy, the Sherman, was no match for the German Tigers or the 88 mm anti-tank guns. As a result, thousands of men lost their lives needlessly. The American general, Bradley, said that our “willingness to expend Shermans offered little comfort to the crews who were forced to expend themselves as well.”
It was and is criminal of the British Government to ask our young men and women to face attack from the enemy in vehicles too thinly armoured and without adequate technology to protect them. We should either withdraw our forces from Iraq and Afghanistan or provide them as quickly as possible with the proper equipment to do the job.
I believe Gordon Brown — and, before him, Tony Blair — should face charges of manslaughter for sending our troops into such murderous mayhem without the best protection available.

George McMillan, Perth. 

© All copyright D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd., 2008