Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles...

Oxford's got loads. I often see them on my way to and from work. They seem quite unperturbed by human activity close by.

We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats the carcases of the cats
After they have been skinned
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
Rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing

I remember seeing one by the Thames dragging a huge dead frog by the leg. It was having a hell of a job to do it, but it persevered.

Can't make an omelette without killing a few cats.

Oxford needs a Pied Piper.

Best rat ever:

So, many moons ago when I thought seeing Pigface in concert was a good idea (well, it was the original 1991 agglomeration so I won't complain), I noticed at one point that the person next to me near the front had a rat dashing back and forth across her shoulders. Said rat looked perfectly healthy and fine, if a little scared at points. I asked about this when there was a break between songs, and the owner said she always brought the rat with her to shows and that he didn't appear to mind at all. That rat had to have been deaf as a post after all that, though.

last time I was at Marble Arch I made the schoolboy error of choosing the wrong exit in the labyrinthine tunnels between the tube station and the park. I emerged by the arch itself. I wasn't in that much of a hurry, so I stopped to read the history of the arch on the sign. Right by it was a flowerbed with several holes in the soil, which led to a rat's nest as I discovered when a rat poked his little head out.

what happened then?