So I’m up on the roof after eating lunch, as is my habit, choosing to eschew the traditional faceplant nap on the desk in order to enjoy some high-grade local tobacco product.
I’m on the roof of a large-ish 4-storey office building, there’s a full-size basketball court.
I’m standing at the rail, looking down on the parking lot of the office building across the road. There’s a wee patch of grass and trees next to the guard booth controlling access to the lot.
As I look down, a big fat brown rat literally waddles out of the bushes and starts scurrying along the base of the booth. I can see the guard sitting within, although he can’t see the rat, it being well below the bottom edge of the window.
Anyways, the vermin moves along the wall, and, still hugging the base of the little building, turns the corner, and I can see that if it keeps going, it will be coming up to the open door of the booth and will probably go inside, so I’m watching the guard to see what happens.
Suddenly I see the rat come back, reversing its trail, looking exactly like “Fuck! I forgot my passcard!”, and heads back into the bush.
Thing is, like I said, I’m like 5 floors up, and I can literally see the curve of this beast’s ears, so I quickly look for something to scale it to.
This thing was fucking huge.
Easily 9 or 10 inches without its tail.
If it’d had longer legs, it could have been a chihuahua.
Crikey!
At long last, after weeks of observation hiding in the blind, patience pays off. A big fat brown rat literally waddles out of the bushes and starts scurrying along the base of the booth. We finally have a glimpse of the rare Common Brown Rat, Rattus norvegicus, in its natural habitat. And what a magnificent specimen! As the vermin moves along the wall, hugging the base of the little building, we can literally see the curve of its ears. It appears to be easily 9 or 10 inches long. This is the first time that this natural phenomenon has ever been captured on film.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that pales into insignificance when you realize that here’s a man who has actually SEEN rotalsnart’s wallet. Only the outside, admittedly, but still no mean feat.
Oh, but first, bear with me, but boy do we miss the SHIT out of this guy or what??
I just loved the dude.
I bought the chieflette a Steve Irwin doll like this one:
You squeeze his tummy and he says “Crikey!” and “Get a load a THAT beauty!!” and stuff.
Plus, as was observed at the time, there’s now one fewer guy in the world who dresses like me.
So long, ya beauty!
OK, on with the show.
So yesterday, I saw one of those things where, like, it’s kind of weird, but then later when you start thinking about it, it starts to seem really weird.
Or just gross.
I was on the bus going home, now you got to know, Tucheng, in keeping with its role as a 21st century leader in envronmental frendliness and Green Earth policies, has like the oldest crappiest buses you’ve ever seen outside of Mexico.
I think they got them for free from Russia, who didn’t want them anymore.
I think they mostly run on coal.
Anyways, I look over, and there’s
A roach trap
stuck to the bulkhead.
And I was, at first, OK, roach trap, no biggie.
But then later, I was, like WTF??
How do the roaches get on the bus?
How do they not get removed?
What is there enough of on the bus to sustain them?
Beats me, man.
More mysteries from The Land That Evolution Chose to Ignore.
'Til next time, I’m the chief and THIS
IS
TUCHENG!
That’s nothing - I had irishstu in my car once. One full valet service and a whole can of Febreze later, there’s still a strange whiff when I leave it sitting in the sun.
Were you driving through Tucheng at the time?[/quote]
No. But you said the buses have roaches. Which is nothing new in Taipei. Even buses in the big modern city have that problem.
And we go rid of the roaches in the car. It’s like head lice, there’s no shame in getting them, the shame is in keeping them.
Were you driving through Tucheng at the time?[/quote]
No. But you said the buses have roaches. Which is nothing new in Taipei. Even buses in the big modern city have that problem.
And we go rid of the roaches in the car. It’s like head lice, there’s no shame in getting them, the shame is in keeping them.[/quote]
Yeah, that was kind of a joke, there, Doc.
See, that’s why you don’t get your own Travel/Nature show.
