I wake up at night in a daze not really knowing why, but something or someone has had the temerity to cause this disruption to my slumber. One culprit is the possum, it uses the roof as a race track. It’s heavy claws bounce off the tin roof and make a hell of a clatter.

They run along the power lines attached to the eaves and then get onto the tree branches that overhang the roofs. I’m sure it’s a competition to see who can run the length of the street the quickest.

An even louder noise and more disturbing noise will appear out of the blue. This noise is as if there is a kettle drum outside being smashed to within an inch of its life. It turns out that this noise is caused by one of the many fruit bats gorging on the abundance of mangoes in the park to the back of the house, they get too greedy and grab one that’s too big for them and drop it mid flight………they are scattered everywhere around the garden.

The noise is generated when the mangoes bounce off the roofs of the many sheds around. My shed is 12m x 6m and it’s not very full and so it magnifys the thump as they make contact with the roof.