Homeserve smells a rat
I mainly know Homeserve as a company that offers boiler services, electrical repairs and the like for a fixed monthly fee…the idea is you pay a monthly cost and if nothing goes wrong you’re S.O.L. If you do have a problem you’re covered though. Emergency insurance, basically.
What I didn’t know was that they do pest control too, which is why I was surprised by the scene which greeted me this morning when I went to take out the bins. A guy in Homeserve overalls was bravely chasing the biggest rat I ever saw up and down the alley which abuts our property to the rear, waving a plunger as an improvised cosh at the scabby, cat sized beast that hissed at him from behind the bins.
Turns out the poor bloke was part of Homeserve’s boiler servicing division and was simply inspecting the pipes at one of my neighbours when mama rat and a dozen unruly young came bursting out. The quick-thinking engineer had quickly slammed the bathroom door shut trapping the infants (still a fair size, he told me) but mama rat had managed to flee to the rear and was now terrorising the Monday afternoon drag-the-bin-in crowd.
Fortunately Ross, for such was his name, managed to hold the ferocious rodent to a standstill until one of his colleagues from Homeserve’s Pest Control crew showed up. Three minutes later and some curious shenanigans with a large metal box and the problem was no more. Bit of an anti-climax really, though poor Ross looked like he’ll remember it for a while.
