Speedrat

Tuesday was my last full day in Edmonton; a sad day for both myself and landlords of various local pubs and bars.

What can I say? I'm still not a convert, I like to live in places that you can enjoy on the hoof (Edmonton's greatest fault lies in it city-planning and reliance on the car), but I have warmed to Edmonton in the twelve months that I lived there. It has its moments and the people are genuinely friendly, which counts for a lot. I can truthfully say that it began to feel like home.

Thanks to the Alberta and Edmonton bloggers who welcomed me into the fold - in particular to the individuals whose blogs I have read, and who occasionally comment upon my ramblngs (you know who you are).

On my last day we took the opportunity to visit Speedrat at Westmount School. Regular readers will be pleased to know that he seems happy in his new home, and became happier still with the delivery of veggie lasagna, pistachio nuts, spitz and biscuit that we brought him.

Naturally I am very excited to get back to England, my excitement heightened by the fact that the nation is gearing up for the World Cup. But spare a thought for Mrs Toque. She is an Oilers fan, and looks likely to miss the Stanley Cup final unless we can find somewhere, or some channel, that shows the games in England. If there are any Canadian Expats that can give us any information on where we can see the games in England.

So here I am back in England. What was all the fuss about; what did I miss? Well, how about views like this taken from the balcony this morning?

Ah yes, England...Even with fascist bastards in government it's still, just sometimes, a joy to behold.

As I walked out of Westmount Mall holding a yellow acid man helium balloon one of a gaggle of hairstylist girls, gathered for their morning smoke, cheekily called out "Is that for me?"

"No", I replied, "It's for my mouse....he likes ballooning".

Today was the day that every parent dreads: The first day at school when the little one has to stand on his own four legs. Speedrat, unable to travel back to England with us, had been enrolled at Westmount Junior High School, to live amongst a menagerie of terrapins snakes, lizards, and other rodents, that go to form the school's 'animal club'.

	Speedy enjoying a tube run just before his departure.
	Speedy on top of the car outside his new home with Mrs Toque looking on and holding back the tears.

When we got to the classroom the kids shrieked in delight at the sight of the new intake and his amazing cage. "Does he bite?" said one voice as five hands were rammed into the cage to try and get Speedrat out. "Er....no", I said - thinking that there was a first time for everything. But Speedy remained calm and permitted himself to be lifted out of the cage for some heavy petting. All in all I feel good about his new home, he's certain to get a lot of attention and love, and as long as he can keep away from the snakes he should live a long and happy life. Thanks for the memories Speedy, you're a good mouse.

On Thursday he was eating muffin. On Friday he was begging for pizza. On Saturday morning he was dead at the bottom of his cage. He was a good mouse.

RIP Dangermouse: 2005 - 2005

Dangermouse leaves behind two grieving owners and his brother Speedrat. Dangermouse will be buried at West Edmonton Landfill, Edmonton, Alberta by the binmen. Please do not send flowers. Donations to The Edmonton Humane Society

The cage flag is at half-mast.

I know I said that I wouldn't be doing anymore mouse blogging...

...but how could I resist brightening up everyone's day by showing this picture of Speedrat the mouse climbing in Mrs Toque's flowers?

Isn't he just the cutest mouse climbing in flowers you ever saw?

If that 'art' isn't colourful enough for you check out this jelly San Francisco. Via Dodgeblogium.

It's my mouse and I'll blog if I want to.

...blog if I want to.

That'll be my last pet post for a while. I don't want LMiaT to end up like a mouse version of this blog.

Having got married the logical next step seemed to be to extend our family, and because of that posting on Little Man on a Toque has been rather sparse of late.

Meet the new additions to the Toque household.

Dangermouse (front) & Speedrat

I've kept mice before, as a kid, but as a responsible pet-owner I decided to check the internet for advice on mouse husbandry. A BBC website had some very useful advice:

Mouse should be kept in a cage to prevent it getting lost or stood on, as well as preventing a mess and it running loose throughout the house.

Heeding this advice we invested in a cage. And what a cage! It has a mushroom theme, including a mushroom hideout and a mushroom water hopper, a silent running wheel, and a 'mouse outhouse'.

Naturally we wanted to make life fun for our little critter friends so a couple of days later we bought some more attachments.

But we didn't stop there, oh no!

Makes you wish you were a mouse doesn't it?