Ratatouille?

Once upon a time, a family of four decided to move across an ocean to the exotic continent of Africa.  When they first arrived, they were amazed at how different their new life was from their old one.  Here in Lagos, it is always noisy and  a little  ALOT more dirty.  Although, some may say that is what gives Lagos so much character. The mom from this family remembers thinking the same thing when they lived in New Orleans many years back.:)  They got used to seeing bugs in bags of pasta,  people peeing on the side of the road, okadas buzzing in and out of traffic, and even the occasional bathing of some people on the side of the road.  But, one morning, the lovely, beautiful , adoring wife went back to the store room to get her son some more Goldfish crackers for his lunch box.  And, alas, to her surprise  HORROR she found that the bag inside the box had been torn and upon further inspection, there were small teeth marks and pieces of foil inside the box!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Suddenly, it dawned on her that when she had gone back there on Saturday and three cans of pringles were on the floor that it had probably been......NO she couldn't even think it!!!!!  NO...she couldn't even say it!!!!!!!!  She took the box and calmly scared out of her mind, showed her understanding and loving husband.  To which he said, "Yep, we probably do have a rat!""" Until she heard the words come from her husband's lips, she could still deny it....but now that word was out there!!!  There was no taking it back!!!  The loving and dutiful husband left for work with his wife standing there wondering how she could live in such a place!!!  So, the brave and courageous wife went back to the store room and looked at the closed door.  She mustered up her courage and thrust opened the door ever so slowly....she just had to know what else had been eaten besides her precious Goldfish  which had traveled thousands of miles in her precious shipment for her children....she could find them no where in Lagos).  The, she heard it!!!!! A very loud quiet sound.  And then, she SAW all 6 inches of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It  jumped from the shelf and on to the dryer on top of the Downy bottle and up into a small opening in the ceiling!!!!!!!!! A RAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She screamed in horror!!!  And she did what any expat wife living in Lagos would do.....she called her fairy godmother stewardess and screamed over the phone that there was a rat......in the flat....and it's alive!!!!!!!!!!  Happiness arrived and with the wave of a magic wand was "on top" of the situation.  She quarantined the storage room, and she was whisked off on an okada to the nearest roundabout to bring back three large rat traps.  Meanwhile, the calm freaked out of her mind madame went stormed to the maintenance office and told them they needed to fix the hole in the ceiling of the storage room.  It took most of the day, but the hole was sealed off, and the rat was caught...in a hall way closet. Apparently, the rats are in the walls and can access just about any flat through the hole in the ceiling where the dryer vent goes.  The madame felt a little better knowing a rat was caught....but she was still uneasy as she didn't know if it was the rat.  Although the "fairy godmother" stewardess did bait the trap with Goldfish crackers......hmmmmmmmmmm.    Just thinking of the rats inside the walls here made the madame think of  one of her children's favorite movies, Ratatouille, and makes her skin crawl. But, for some reason, in that movie, she didn't recall the rats leaving turds in the hall closet...

rat was caught while I was gone...Happiness took a picture of it on her phone:)

where the rat was caught and some rat poop was discovered

 Since there is only trash pick up here only once a week, it is no wonder there is a rat problem here.  They are in the dumpsters and come from the huge ditch behind the compound which has become a dumping ground for sewage and tons of other garbage. From there, they wander into the building through any opening they can find....

tons of trash...

But this family is not the first one in the compound to have a "rat invasion".....the madame's friend who lives on the 11th floor, mind you, also had a rat visitor a few weeks ago....and that rat (which has since been caught) had a hankering for Goldfish also........

That night as the Madame went to sleep, she thought to herself that she had always heard stories of Rats living here, but until today, she had never actually seen one.  Now, her mind will be plagued with the fear of rats running wild in her building!!!!  So, I guess the moral of the story ( if there is one) is if you have Goldfish, make sure they are locked up tight....apparently, the rats in Lagos love them just as much as your children do!!!!!!

precious Goldfish

EVERYTHING goes in the freezer...not just the meat!!!!