OK, I've heard of people mistaking ferrets for minks, ermines, rats (grrr!),
even recently, a wolverine(?!), but this is a classic!  The other night, a
girlfriend of mine drops by my house.  She's been at the bandrooms, and for
some reason, isn't driving.  So a nice saxophonist offers to give her a
lift, and also to drop by my place on the way home so she can wish me happy
birthday (this guy has never even HEARD of me, or anything about me).
Anyway, they appear at the front door "Hi Sophie, happy birthday, this is
Steven." "Nice to meet you, Steve, come in, won't you sit down, can I get
you something, coffee, tea, piece of birthday cake?" They agree that would
be nice.  So I disappear into the kitchen, and my girlfriend follows me in
for a chat while I make tea.  We're talking away, when we realise that Steve
has suddenly vacated the loungeroom.  He's standing at the other end of the
kitchen, saying "A-hem!" to get our attention.  He looks rather concerned.
I say "is there anything wrong?" He nods his head , anxious, yet obviously
trying to stay calm so as not to frighten us.  He says, in a careful, calm
voice, "Don't be alarmed, but I believe there's a Mongoose in your
loungeroom!"
 
Two seconds flat, my girlfriend and I are SCREAMING with laughter.
Millie-weasel comes wardancing in, dooking like a...mongoose?  Needless to
say, Steve was absolutely charmed by her flirtatious ways once he'd been
properly introduced...but it kept me giggling for days!
 
Anyway, enough frivolity.  I don't post often, but I had an idea (fairly
rare for me, I'm afraid!).  I was looking for Australian ferret sites on the
web the other day, all I could find was the New South Wales Ferret
association site.  I'm starting to set up a homepage (html newbie - veerrry
scary!) and wondered if you Aussies out there could see a use for a
consolidated Australian site?  I don't know if there are any others, but I'm
thinking of linking to homepages, any ferret societies, businesses etc
(maybe even relevant legislation, such as the Queensland
ferret-prohibition).  I will probably go ahead and do a ferret page anyway,
but if you think there's a need for it, it could become an Oz ferret
reference.  I'd love your feedback on this - would it be useful, or does
such a site already exist?
 
Cheers!
Sophie, Millie-mongoose and Sinbad (Aw, mum, can I be Sinbad-stoat?)
[Posted in FML issue 1989]