Festive Hamster

The first realisation that Christmas was just around the corner was the arrival of the school hamster. "Piper" is staying with us for the holidays. This didn't bother the goldfish at all and I don't think the piglets noticed his arrival, but the cats certainly got excited about it.....especially when he escaped from the plastic ball that he likes to roll around the kitchen floor in. Well, I'm all smartly dressed and ready to go to my daughters' school play when the plastic ball came open. I watched with horror, as 'Piper' headed towards the gap under the door into the utility room. As his head reached the door, a black paw stretched out and scooped him up...agh!! 'She'll never be head girl now!' ran through my mind as I threw the door open and chased the cat. The cat was hiding under a cupboard and I threw myself on the floor to grab it. Once I managed to get hold of the furious feline, I had to hold her between my knees so I could use both hands to prise open her jaws. After much growling and gnashing of teeth (on both our parts), I rescued the hamster...he's perfectly fine now, though we were both quite shaky at the time. Once I had put him safely back in his cage I looked down at my clothes with further horror...the utility room was being re plastered and I had just led on the floor in all the dust and mess...... I did get to the school play just in time and in clean clothes, but only just. Next year the hamster is going somewhere else for Christmas, he'd only been here 23 hours when he escaped…