A possum business

Today I visited the bank and discovered a young male possum scampering between the cars and trashcans, trying to find somewhere to hide. I stood and watched as about six people walked past and smiled or laughed at his plight; my heart went out to him in pity, but I could see I was powerless to help.

After using the ATM, I turned around to note the possum had fled across the road and was bashing against the glass window, trying to get at the greenery behind, of a government building. I went over and two other people stood around wondering aloud what to do with me.

I went to the phone box and rang directory assistance for the RSPCA Emergency. The Emergency line gave me the number for Fauna Rescue. Then my coins ran out, so I ran across the road to the other two people and gave the 40-ish woman the number to ring on her mobile.

Fauna Rescue said they would only come out if we could trap the possum in a box. The woman told me to get a box.

So while the woman - Christine she said her name was - talked further, I went and got a cardboard box. Luckily it was rubbish collection day today and I made a huge mess on the street of cardboard pieces filling one of the boxes. But I got a great big nice box and Christine and I stared at one another, wondering "How do we do this?"

We closed in on the possum with the box open. Now possums are pretty smart with entrapment; he knew exactly what was up, so he fled around the corner into the revolving door.

My heart sank: he was going to escape!

I leapt around in a surge of adrenalin and shoved myself between the exit from the door and him. He leapt up in the air about a foot, hissing, frightened and exhausted. At that precise moment I thrust the cardboard box around him and called for Christine to fetch a piece of cardboard. We closed the box over carefully, and Christine said she would wait for Fauna Rescue to turn up. I got her to weigh down the lid of the box with her armani purse and left: I was late from my 7pm meeting.

So that was my adventure for today.