On Wednesday, a short while into the session, Anne Small went to the front cupboard to get a file. She swiftly closed the door again and came over to me to say “ there’s a possum in the cupboard!”.
John Rogers was directing but was in the middle of setting up the movement so we decided to tell our vet professor, Terry Rothwell, and ask his advice. After he stopped laughing he said that nothing should be done until after everyone had left at the end of the session.
At 4 o’clock he and John and a couple of helpers constructed an “alley” leading from the cupboard door to the double doors using the two trestle tables (on their sides ) and the newly constructed side tables. Terry then armed himself with the longest umbrella he could find, opened the cupboard door and gave the possum a poke. It reacted exactly as Terry had predicted, and with a couple of further encouraging prods scuttled down the “alley”into the greenery and trees outside. Mission accomplished!
We realised how the poor creature got into the club because there was a section of the ceiling which had fallen on the floor near the directors position, but the real mystery was, and still is, how did it get itself into a closed cupboard?
There was a further side tale to this episode. When John started working on the computer he was a bit annoyed to see what looked like chocolate raisins scattered around the bench and table. As it was the day after our Melbourne Cup lunch he thought someone had been messy with their lollies. It was only after the possum was discovered that he realised what the delicious looking morsels were!
