‘Rats!’ was not the four-letter word I uttered when I saw the oily rodent scuttle across the kitchen floor and disappear into a hole the size of a champagne cork under the fridge.
For the first time since moving to London in 1980, I had encountered a sewer rat - perhaps not surprising given the estimated UK rat population of around 150 million.
I have drawn many cartoons about the old adage - “You’re never more than six feet away from a rat’ - but now