A refreshing early morning swim in a pool came to an abrupt halt when something bumped into the back-stroker’s naked flesh. The woman flailed onto her stomach and spotted a tiny mouse struggling for air and survival. She hastily swam to the side of the pool, grabbed her Croc and returned to scoop up the little critter. The rodent was in no hurry to leave its safe-haven and had to be tipped out onto the ground. Somewhat stunned, it shook himself off, blinked the water out of its eyes and scuttled off to take refuge under the hedge surrounding the pool.

As a result of this misadventure and having previously found dead or struggling frogs in the pool, the owners purchased a Frog Log or a “critter saving escape ramp”. This was placed in the water at the side of the pool and has enabled other unfortunate wee beasties from meeting an untimely end.

• Keyless cars are a wonderful invention but it can prove disastrous if the magic key fob is misplaced. A man left his car running while he checked his mail, returned to his car and drove off to pick something up at his absent daughter’s house. It was only after he got back into the car and tried to re-start it that he realized he must have left his keys in the mail box. He had no alternative except to walk quite a distance back to the mailbox. Luckily for him, a good Samaritan and friend, surprised to see him ambling down the road, drove him to retrieve his keys and back to his daughter’s house.

Another equally disconcerting incident occurred when a family from Boston stopped at a restaurant and, when the mother tried to lock the car, she was foiled in her attempt because the key fob was somewhere inside. Much as they could drive the car, they wouldn’t be able to lock it and the contents, including the yellow Labrador, until the key could be located. After much searching and turning out of the car, the key was eventually discovered far under the passenger seat. The debate is still on as to whether it was the dog or the son that was the guilty party.