Latest on Mole hunt I found this great site.  Shame I didn't find it earlier....

http://countrymanpestcontrol.co.uk/moles.htm

Still hunting.  Haven't got the blighters yet...

It isn't the first time my back garden has been troubled with molehills.   They tend to surface during the summer and with our house backing onto open fields, they seem to thrive here every year.   Normally, I can cope with a few molehills to greet me every morning.  Moles are such cute, cuddly creatures after all. 

But this year is different.   I have been plagued ever since we installed the hot tub.  Every day a new molehill appears, slowly driving me insane.   At first, I diligently removed the mole hills in the same way I do every year. When they kept coming back,  I tried a few "housewife" methods which include inserting a stick into the ground  and placing a bottle on top ,that rattled when the wind blew.  Supposed to scare them off apparently.  Suprise, suprise. It didn’t work.  In fact, molehills were springing up in the exact spot where the stick and bottles were.  Cheeky buggers. Ah well, they were still cute!   I had visions of hundreds of moles lounging in my hot tub while my family slept nearby, blissfully unaware. 

Next, I ventured onto the internet to search for "humane" gadgets to solve my mole problem.  Ah ha! I had found an sonic pulse gadget.  Surely this must work.  What you do is drive the gadget into the ground, where it regularly emits an sonic pulse fooling the mole into thinking it is a predator.  Surely that must work.  After all moles are pretty stupid, aren’t they?  Ok, it sounds similar to the stick and bottle solution, but this is a gadget....with batteries - so it must work! 

A few days later and £18 pounds poorer, the gadget arrived and was enthusiastically installed.  Next day I awoke to 4 molehills around the pole.  Despair! Anger!  Were the moles taking the piss?  Did they get together and pole dance around this gadget that was supposed to scare them off?

It was at this point I lost it.  I decided to dig up the hills, find the tunnels, stick a hosepipe into the tunnels and drown the little bastards!!  "Moles can swim" my wife said, but it was too late.  The red mist had descended and I was on a mission.  An hour or so later I had calmed down and I felt quite satisfied.  More over the molehills seemed to stop.  

A few weeks later my confidence in my gadget was restored.  "It must have been working after all. Perhaps it justs take time", I said to myself, trying not to think of flooded tunnels with little moles floating lifeless inside them.

Days later still no hills.  Success...... Hoorah....or so I thought.  Today, one solitary molehill re-surfaced.  Now I am ready to buy every inhumane gadget available to man, so I can ceremonially execute everyone of those "cute, cuddly creatures"....

Stand back moles... you have pushed me too far this time.

Well, we have finally done it.   After 18 painful years, the England cricket team have triumphed and regained the Ashes. No longer do we have to suffer listening to bragging Aussies for at least another 18 months or so.    Not that I would rub their faces in it of course.  We should maintain the moral high ground as true Englishmen and say things like "Well played" and "We were lucky really" and  "Warne is such a great player" and "We wouldn't have won if it wasn't for the weather". 

The Australian Prime Minister stated that the real winner was cricket.  Now, although this series brought cricket to many people who previously didn't follow or understand the sport, it is clear who the winner is and it isn't Australia.   More satisfying, is that I can truly state that the best team won. :) 

Hail Sir Freddie Flintoff.....