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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment

When ‘tidying’ mice are more hindrance than help

A house mouse (Mus musculus) sitting on a tool shed counter with spanner and hammer behind
‘I tried to put on a pair of boots that I hadn’t worn for a while, and found a whole collection of chestnuts inside.’ Photograph: Mike Lane/Alamy

Re the tidying mouse (Mouse secretly filmed tidying man’s shed every night, 7 January), a few years ago, my husband put a ring of chestnuts around the bed on the floor to repel spiders. But the chestnuts kept disappearing, and of course I got the blame … until I tried to put on a pair of boots that I hadn’t worn for a while, and found a whole collection of chestnuts inside. We’ve never known for sure, but we did have mice at the time.
Eveline van der Steen
Maentwrog, Gwynedd

• Mr Myerscough’s throwing his underpants in the laundry bag should be applauded (Letters, 8 January), but it is nothing next to my 78-year-old husband regularly managing to kick his off and land them on his head, a performance which makes for an enjoyable end to the day. I have withheld my name: it’s a rare sight but I’m not selling tickets.
Name and address supplied

• In 1978, as a new resident of Peckham, London, I asked a newsagent if he had a copy of the Guardian. He said “No, sorry,” then offered me a copy of Pravda as an alternative. I was never sure if he was a serious lefty or was taking the piss (Letters, 9 January).
Tony Clarke
London

• All right, who’s going to tell the reverend (Letters, 5 January) that Jesus wasn’t born in 0AD?
James Wilkinson
Ford, Shropshire

• It seems there’s a spare CBE going (Former Post Office chief hands back CBE as Horizon scandal intensifies, 9 January). Poetic justice surely suggests passing it over to Gwyneth Hughes, the writer of ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
Jim Wilson
Broughton, Oxfordshire

• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.

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