From A to Bee(76)

SEPTEMBER 3



Of all the stupid things I could have done, I have stood up the bee inspector. I feel like an athlete who didn't turn up for a drugs test. I forgot about Jo having a midwife appointment today, and usually I go to these for moral support. I have had to put an emergency call in to the bee inspector. I could only leave a message. Huge black marks for me but there are times when other things are of far greater importance.



So far Jo is getting on really well with this second pregnancy and, for the second time, we are not finding out whether it's a boy or a girl so it is all rather exciting. We both feel it is life's greatest surprise and I remember so clearly the anticipation with Sebastian as he popped out and, as we had requested, I got to tell Jo that it was a little boy. I couldn't think of any other way I would like to deal with the situation again and I simply cannot wait to become a father again.



On another note, I am going to look at the hive on Sunday. Hopefully it hasn't been knocked over or vandalised while it has been there. In the meantime, I had better eat some humble pie and apologise to the bee inspector when he returns my call.





SEPTEMBER 5





Today was the day of the first hive inspection in the heather fields. Had the move worked? The weather had been good for the last two weeks and so I was hopeful. I also decided to make it a bit of a family outing and so took everyone along. Even Mum and Dad wanted to come along as it wasn't far from them, and secretly I think Dad wanted to reminisce about his younger days staying in that youth hostel.



We drove down and met my parents by the beautiful house of the head warden who was still away on holiday. It was so weird seeing other people in this little haven of peace but what was stranger as I looked out to the heather was that there was now a herd of cows walking around out there in the valley. They certainly weren't there last week.



As Jo, Sebastian and Mum and Dad walked around and introduced Sebastian to the cows, I got down to business and opened up the hive with great anticipation. Going through the well-rehearsed routine of lighting the smoker, then suiting up, followed by puffing the smoker, I was getting quite nervous of what I might find. It was going to go one of two ways; either a full super of honey or nothing would have happened at all.



As I looked through the hive, it was perfectly clear that it was to be the latter. Aside from a few more cells in the super being capped, nothing seemed to have changed. I was gutted. The fact that the hive was particularly feisty did not help matters. The only difference I noted was that some of the outer frames in the brood box had evidently been filled with honey as they had definitely changed and got a lot heavier. It was also interesting to see that the honey was far darker and thicker than I was used to. Maybe now these were filled they might do something in the super. I could only hope. I would leave it here for another week at least and see how they got on.



As I finished off I noticed that not only were Mum, Dad, Jo and Sebastian standing some distance away watching, but also some walkers had stopped to see what was going on. To top it all off, a little group of cows was now standing about fifty feet away having a nose. It seems beekeeping is of universal interest.



I walked back to the car with a straggler hanging around me but by the time I got there it had disappeared. I disrobed and started packing away. Whilst talking to Mum and Dad, however, it appeared that the straggler who had been guiding me away from the hive came back. This time she seemed to take issue with Mum, and particularly her hair. Just as with Maggie before, it started on her fringe before making its way to the longer hair at the back. However, unlike Maggie's rather elaborate dancing manoeuvres, Mum was somewhat more controlled which was surprising. She went for a sustained swatting technique with almost robotic arm movements and the occasional yelp of 'Get that bee out of my hair!'



Fortunately, this time there was no sting and when we managed to get the bee out, she must have thought her job was done and promptly flew off. Feeling a little flustered, Mum made a quick retreat into the car and we duly followed. It was time to go home. Deep down I was a little disappointed but it had been a great experience going out there and I will be interested to see what happens in the next week.



Forgot to mention: despite the message I left yesterday for the bee inspector, it seems that he actually turned up to meet me. He called to say that he got my message too late and had already arrived at our house. That is surely going to count against me when we do finally get a chance to meet up. He agreed to pop back in a couple of weeks but I feel pretty bad about making him come all the way out to see me again.





SEPTEMBER 9