From A to Bee(21)

I live in the middle of nowhere and good God do I know it. Having lived in London for many years, the move to the country was a welcome relief; but the most fundamental change, alongside the saddening realisation that I couldn't walk out of my door to a choice of pubs and restaurants, was the fact that I really noticed sunrise and sunset. I cannot tell you how much I despise the clocks going back in the winter when the commute to and from work, which by that time is already in semi-darkness, is plunged into pitch black. We don't have streetlights out here so you really, really notice the dark. However, one of my favourite times of the year is fast approaching and it is simply gauged by the sunset I witness. Each day, driving home at pretty much the same time, days just seem to last that little bit longer and though it's only about two or three minutes a day, it's enough to lift my spirits an incredible amount. Today was one of those days; the first day I have noticed the last strip of light as I was driving home. How wonderful.



Arriving home, I turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open, and standing there at the top of the stairs was Sebastian. At the top of his voice he simply shouted 'Dad-dy!' Now I have got the odd spattering of 'Dad-dy' before but not with such annunciation and sheer joy. What a lovely coming home present from my seventeen-month-old son. He then proceeded to run off and cause havoc with his fire engine but, by that point, I wasn't really worried.



This has also been a nice day because of the dawning realisation that this is the week that I could get my hive and could be building it at the weekend – whether the hive arrives or not, I will be building frames for a beehive, courtesy of my local beekeeping association. Though a little apprehensive, as it will be my first meeting with them, I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty.



There is one final positive point about today, though, and that is about the old beekeeping neighbour of ours, Anne Buckingham whose Saab I used to clean every week for extra pocket money; my parents must have bumped in to her while walking the dogs and Mum phoned this evening to tell me. Her garden was beautiful with a great slope covered in flowers and she had kept her beehives high up on the outer perimeter. It may explain, on a subconscious level, why I felt drawn to beekeeping. I always remember the yellow spots of pollen we used to get on the washing when it was hung outside not to mention the spots on the car which were impossible to remove. Mum always came in and stated it was because of the bees down the road.



Now, what I didn't realise was that Anne was, and still is, very active in the Surrey Beekeepers' Association. What a wonderful coincidence. I have asked Mum to see if she would mind me popping over for a cup of tea and a little bit of advice to steer me in the right direction. Maybe this weekend after I have built the hive… unless I lose my temper while doing the fiddly bits, which I am sure could happen.



What a nice day; wish they were all like this.





MARCH 3





For every good day like Monday, there are some days you are just glad to get through, and today is one of those days. It was all going well until the final thirty minutes before I was planning to leave work and I spoke to one of the staff over in Spain (I work for a company that works mainly in the UK and Spain). He stated that more people were being made redundant today and others were taking a pay cut, some for the second time. We must have seen over 75 per cent of our workforce go now. This is a tough recession; this sort of thing obviously gets you thinking.



As a result of this I missed my first bee association evening meeting due to consoling some of my Spanish colleagues and reassuring some of my English ones. The insecurity these situations bring is incredible. Thankfully, I feel that is where hobbies come in handy, keeping you focussed and as a result keeping you sane. This morning as dawn broke I went up to water my seeds and saw the little green heads of the broad beans poking out along with a couple of sweet peas. Seeing these little signs of life each year always gives me a boost. A sign of the year to come. I cannot wait to use my recently acquired willow poles to train the sweet peas up.



In the past I have been guilty of being a workaholic, but I can feel a tide of change. These are tough times. Not only the worst recession for a generation, but also coming out of the worst winter in a generation, tends to change your outlook on things. For me it is a time to reassess my work–life balance. It has started with gardening and will continue with beekeeping.





MARCH 6





I am feeling quite overwhelmed today after an amazing day. After the negatives of Wednesday where I missed my first bee meeting, today I did manage to attend a frame-building day, which involved about thirty new, slightly rough around the edges, theoretical beekeepers keen to hone their practical skills. I am sure it is simply a way to get new members building frames for the old members!