Meles Meles

I was just putting the wheelie bins out ready for tomorrow morning and admiring the brightness of the moon, when I heard a rapid skittering noise.  I looked down, and what looked like a fat, legless dog was barrelling along the pavement towards me.  I experienced one of those hair-raising moments of uncanniness before it and I eyeballed each other at about a couple of yards, and I realised it was a badger travelling at speed.  I'm not sure what it made of me, but it paused, checked me out, and carried on down the road.

I've never seen badgers in our street before, though I believe they do hang out in the nearby allotments.  Perhaps word of the rather ineffectual badger cull in Somerset has spread to Hampshire.  Or maybe it was a Somerset badger, putting some distance between itself and the hunters.  Run, badger, run!