Shocking discoveries (an aside)

With the extent of work that we are doing at Number 13, there’s just no way we can live there while it’s taking place. I am in the extremely fortunate position that my Dad lives 40 minutes away from the house and has kindly said that Jon and I can stay. Even more fortunately, he has a converted barn with its own kitchen and bathroom, which means we won’t all be living on top of one another in the house.

The only downside is that when you think ‘converted barn’, you think smart, modern and warm. The barn is the opposite. It’s a great space, don’t get me wrong, but my Dad built it himself (I am hoping house renovating is in the genes!) over 35 years ago and very little has changed since. As it’s not lived in, it has a distinct smell, gets very cold and always feels damp.

All that was OK except for 2 shocking discoveries…

Firstly...carpet moths. As soon as I noticed one, I noticed loads. And then I was crawling around on the floor discovering the full extent of the damage to the carpets. I have experienced moth infestations in a few places I have lived before, and they are incredibly hard to get rid of, so I panicked all over again. Luckily my wardrobe budget doesn’t stretch to lots of wool and cashmere, otherwise the damage would have been worse.

Cue massive extermination activity. Will need to repeat regularly.

The second shock took a while to be officially identified. We had found tiny black/brown pellets behind the toilet, which we assumed were mouse droppings, although they were a lot smaller than droppings I had seen before.

We ordered lots of mouse traps (with Jon promising to be responsible for anything found trapped) and left them around the barn, each complete with a spoonful of tempting peanut butter. But to no avail, we caught nothing.

It was our first time staying overnight that we made the gruesome discovery. Around 11pm I went downstairs to the bathroom, switched the light on, and was confronted by one of the most disgusting sights I have ever seen.

It wasn’t mouse droppings we had seen, but slug poo! There were about 15 slugs all over one another behind the toilet, clearly enjoying the condensation moisture dripping down from the toilet cistern!

As I cast my eyes around I could see even more coming out from behind the cracks in the side board. It was like something from a slimy horror film. I immediately yelled at Jon to come down and then ran across to the house to also retrieve Dad. I felt it deserved a full audience to consider why on earth this had happened and for them to help me deal with it!

My Dad is not scared or squeamish. He picks up huge spiders, can deal with wasp nests etc etc, but he HATES slugs and I couldn’t help but crack up seeing his expression when he saw the slugs.

Long story short, Dad and Jon removed the immediate ‘threat’ and the next day Dad embarked on Operation Slug Nest Removal, taking out everything in the bathroom to reveal their source of entry and hopefully prevent them from ever returning. Only one slug has been seen since so I am really hoping it’s worked, but still I enter the bathroom slowly and with trepidation.

Sorry for the digression! Update on Number 13 – Jon has started taking out the floorboards in the dining room. Lots of signs of dry rot, so I guess at least we know they weren't removed in vain.