Of mice and networks…

Last week BW volunteers Rich and Acesabe paid a visit to the Rosevear sheltered housing scheme in Newtown to see if their link to our network could be restored. One of the last things they expected to find there was wildlife interfering with our infrastructure…

Rich takes up the tale below.

“As I was unscrewing the end of the Bullet, I noticed it was rattling and wondered what the hell was causing it. When I got the end off, a bunch of stones, which Acesabe identified as cherry stones, dropped out: there were also some bits of grass and some droppings; and no sign of the Bullet’s waterproof seal”.

This state of affairs prompted intense debate over drinks at Bristol Wireless’ unregistered office as to the identity of the culprit(s). At first we thought it might be either a grey squirrel or an avian interloper (that was before Rich remembered to mention the droppings; and why you cannot just describe it as a bird is beyond me. Ed.) using the end of our kit as a food store, but that didn’t quite ring true. The most likely culprit – a mouse – was decided upon after talking to our forester mate Tor. Her evidence was compelling: mice can get into the smallest spaces, in addition to which we’ve had a cold winter and networking kit can give off a fair bit of heat (including enough to keep interloping rodents warm in winter. Ed.).

Are we correct in our assumptions? Tell us what you think below.

You can also use the comments to tell us of other networking problems involving other operators; wildlife involvement is not compulsory, mind.

Finally apologies to John Steinbeck and Rabbie Burns for subverting their better literary efforts for the title. 🙂