A lodger called cous cous.

Dear reader,

As you may know I am trying to reduce our monthly bills by cutting down on food and fuel costs.
Big man (he wants me to put 'cos he is tall and muscular, which is true) and I have turned off the heating and have been using the log burner to heat the house. We have both had terrible colds and now having returned to work have been working late and not had much time at home, thus not really wanting to build a fire when we get in.

Last night our bedroom temperature was down to about 8c and I had put on two pairs of socks, pj bottoms and a really thick fleece night dress on top. I was still shivering at 4am and just could not sleep as I felt so cold. I went downstairs and got the throw and wrapped that around me too, pulling it over my head. Still cold! Had headache which I blamed on the cold too.

I admitted defeat at 0530 and flicked the heating on.....I have to say, it was bliss until..........

0608 am- there was a strange noise under the floorboards of our bedroom, right near the radiator.
I immediately thought the hot water was doing something weird. It continued and I listened to a terrible scrabbling.
Our bedroom is in a loft conversion so we are actually in the loft with a small door that leads to the rafters where we keep the usual stuff, Christmas decorations and suitcases. I know you have the same stuff in your loft probably.
It took me a while to figure out that we have a visitor of the small, furry type. I am hoping for a squirrel and nothing else with a long tail!
Honestly, this thing was having a disco under our floorboards. As soon as I had managed to shuffle about a bit in bed, you know, when you want to wake the other half but kind of innocently without him knowing, the little rodent must have gone to sleep as it had all stopped.
Now I was warm but well awake and decided to sod it and get up. Not a good nights sleep.

Someone at work has told me we have a, ( can't remember the name but it kind of sounded like cous cous) a squirrel looking creature with bigger ears? They are in Bucks and Herts and are illegal to release into the wild, he told me. He went on to say I had probably woken it from hibernation by putting the heating on! Great!
 Anyone got any ideas what it is called?
I don't mind paying B Gas to heat us but not so keen on this lodger.

There was a smattering of snow this morning on the road and the cars but the council had done a good job with the gritters.
Big man went off to work before me and I half wanted to look in the loft section upstairs but was scared of some flying, screaming squirrel launching itself at me.
Will see what happens tonight.

Goodnight.

Sarah. X