Where've I bee(n)🐝 recently

You see, the thing is  this ..... no hang on, I'll say at the end.

Last Friday my lovely colleague and I went off on a training day. We are learning how to be bee🐝 keepers. Where we work we have a small apiary and the original bee 🐝keeper just did not come back after the autumn.   

Fortunately for the charity a very kind and extremely knowledgeable lady stepped in and monitored the hives over winter and spring while the charity decided what to do. 

It was very obvious that the bees🐝 needed to be looked after and I found myself putting my hand up (carefully and after much thought) and for good measure, a colleague was 'volunteered' along with me so that I would not be🐝 solely responsible.

So, with plenty of discussion both at work and with our lovely but temporary bee keeper🐝 we were initiated into a bee🐝 keeping course which, 'thanks to' the lockdown meant our classes were all on zoom (appropriately named I though). 

We muddled through, both the course givers and the students. Technology failed, we had lagging, the internet was intermittent, the course givers struggled with modern systems, but we all survived the seven week course (mostly due to reading books and absorbing as much info from our temporary bee🐝 keeper who we gently pressganged into being our mentor). 

As restrictions lifted,  we finally got an onsite visit to the association's apiary. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare clearing the day however we managed.

There were six of us in total and I have decided that bee🐝 keepers or beeks as they affectionately call themselves - are a species unto themselves. Enthusiastic, mostly retired, bumbling characters. Full of knowledge and desperately keen to share - even if it meant all of them told us the same thing at the same time at increasing volume to ensure their story was heard....

Two of the experienced beeks were stung - the bees🐝 were inside their protective hoods, one of the beeks did a flappy hand dance and ran off to his car while our mentor, when she removed her bee🐝 suit back at the car - found it was full of stings - probably 18 - 20 little stings stuck into the fabric on her back. We were quite cheerfully told that this can be normal - you can't be a beek without a few stings ..

We were there for several hours as we observed the inspections - my colleague taking a greater part in the process while I took photos. I was very quickly nicknamed ...The Lassie with the camera. We were congratulated on our calm manner 'especially as we were novices' and all I could think of was the retreating back of the bloke who'd been stung. He was a loud, animated and full of jovial banter - may be the bees🐝 had heard all his stories before.

It was an interesting day - full of new folk, new stories, new skills to learn and we have been invited to go back - so we obviously did not disgrace ourselves!

Oh - yes, so what was I going to tell you at the beginning?

I am rather allergic to bees............................. 🐝🐝