When was the last time you were awakened at 3am . . .

. . . by badgers??? That has just happened to me.

When I emptied the garbage several hours ago, I didn't have any shoes on and consequently didn't take the bag to the dumpster. I intended to do so before going to bed, but I (of course, being Brian) forgot. Then about 20 minutes ago, even as I was half asleep, I heard some heavy rustling outside the door. I remembered the rubbish bag and knew instantly that it was either a fox or a badger as they regularly get into the rubbish here on campus.

I got up, put on my bathrobe and a pair of shoes, and went to the door. I heard the rustling noise still. I picked up a stick and hit the door a couple times, then heard some scampering. I slowly opened the door, and my rubbish bag had indeed been torn up by some creature. As I stepped out, I saw a medium-sized badger scampering away to my left. I kept the stick close by as I began to clean up as badgers are not the friendliest of animals if they feel threatened. I've been told that a student or two here on campus thought cornering a badger would be fun, only to get cut up when the badger fought back. One student supposedly had to go to the hospital he was cut so badly.

I gathered the first bit of rubbish and headed toward the dumpster. As I came out of our building, I heard a rustle to my left as a rather large badger took off, running as fast as he could, which turned out to be faster than I had expected a badger to run. I was just happy that he chose to run rather than fight.

As I continued cleaning up the rubbish, I heard some very unusual noises about 50 feet up the road: heavy rustling in the bushes, then a series of chirps and yips. As I watched, the two badgers tumbled out of the bushes into the road, rolling and fighting each other. The larger one certainly had the upper hand, but I could not tell whether it was the wrestling typical of adolescent animals or if it was an actual fight. Deciding to break up the badger brawl, I announced my presence by whacking my brush and dustpan together. The sound echoed off the buildings and down the road, and the badgers stopped fighting. The smaller one hurried away, but the larger one stared at me a while, almost daring me to come toward him, or at very least watching me closely to see what I would do, before slowly heading off down the road. I went back to our building, finished cleaning, and came back inside.

A very light rain was falling all this time, almost more of a mist. The weather has definitely turned toward autumn here. Last year Brighton had an extended summer, with warmer weather well into October and even November. I think we're going to have a much earlier autumn this year, though, as the leaves have just begun to change color and fall.

And now that my badger interlude is over, it's back to bed for me.