Well, the day seemed to be going ok - day one of a full rewire in a three up three down semi with cellar.

The cellar hadn't been used for years - in fact the door practically fell to bits when we opened it. The cellar doesn't go under the full 'footprint' of the house; only about half of each house is dug out. Curious arrangement really; and the remainder is just about 12" deep below the floor joists for the rest of the building.

Anyway, we were pulling the old insulation that had been stuffed twixt the floor joists by the previous owner "to stop draughts" ( only had rugs in the downstairs rooms ), and this had been stuffed the full depth of the ledge along the edge the non-cellar bits.

I'm riving away happily (!); pulling this old crap out and handing it back to the boy when...JEEZ... [Linked Image] the biggest bloody RAT I have ever seen leapt off the ledge toward my face...

I don't mind saying that I was crapping it! The damn thing latched onto my shirtfront for what seemed like a week [Linked Image]. I fell backwards and knocked the halogen tripod over...total darkness....

I don't think I have ever found my way out of a strange building in complete blackout so quickly!! I swear we both made it to the top of the stairs in two steps apiece [Linked Image]

It took some time before either of us had the guts to venture down there again - needless to say I was a little more...circumspect about the way I pulled the remaining insul out [Linked Image]

I don't think my ticker will stand that sort of assault again!

[Linked Image] ...edited four speeling...

[This message has been edited by uksparky (edited 07-23-2004).]

If hindsight were foresight, we'd all be millionaires!