What a waste!

The number of rats is rising at an alarming rate in Britain. It's said that we're always within six feet of a rat - and that that distance is getting shorter. Rats are big, ugly and survive on and in rubbish. And, surprise, surprise, they spread disease and infection.

We've had a compost bucket at home for years. Every other day the bucket is emptied into a compost bin at the bottom of the garden. It's just a case of having a routine.

And the huge rat son found nesting in the bin at the bottom of the garden last week obviously appreciated it!

We're always conscious of vermin - having fields at the front and back of the house makes you very aware of "life" outside. Harvest time brings a good number of "visitors" and we get occasional mice inside the house and set humane traps. If the dog barks in the evening we check the trap and husband carries it and the contents over the road to release back into the wild.

Fortunately, the dog seems to keep visitors out most of the time and the nocturnal excursions are few and far between.

But the one year we didn't have a dog, about 12 years ago, was the one year mice nested and bred . . .and bred . . . and bred . . . in the house. Humane traps were abandoned for weeks while we got rid of the infestation.

We're not a family that leaves food about. No half-eaten pizzas on plates under beds. No half-empty plates left on worktops. But we've had our share of vermin.

If every home has a compost bucket, let's not be surprised when every home has a rat, a nest of mice and a family of cockroaches!