The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 11/07/20
Get The Buzz!
It's funny how one small act of consideration can change the shape of your day, isn't it?
I went into the kitchen this afternoon to start cooking my Sainsbury's king prawn makhani when I saw something in the middle of the floor.
On closer inspection, it turned out to be a bumble bee which had, I assume, flown in through the back door whilst I was pegging my washing out.
As regular readers will know, I'm partial to bumblies, except when they try to colonise the house (I solved the problem of the nest-hole by serendipitous discovery of two small stones in the back yard which, when placed together, so perfectly sealed the gap around the boiler overflow pipe that nothing larger than a gnat could get through it).
So, I needed to get the bee outside.
The creature seemed to be very sluggish, and I was able to entice it onto a bit of kitchen paper (note: you shouldn't pick them up; firstly, you're likely to get stung; and, secondly, if your smell gets on to them, they'll be killed as soon as they reach their nest). Taking the paper outside, I placed it on the top of the bin, forcing part of the paper into the handle of the lid to prevent it blowing away in the very light breeze which was drying my sheets and pillowcases.
I checked up on it a little while later, but the bee was still there, although it had been alive in the interim as it was now facing the opposite way to when I had left it. I blew on it gently to see if it was still with us, and it waved one of its legs in what I felt was a gesture of irritation.
After some pondering, I reasoned that the wee beastie may have been in need of either food or warmth, and that a bin lid in the shade was not going to provide either form of sustenance. So I carefully dislodged the paper from the handle and carried it around to the south-facing side wall of the house, where the hypericum is in bloom.
Gently shaking the paper, I managed to manoeuvre the bee on to one of the flowers. After a couple of seconds or so, it started moving rather aimlessly across the flower. Then, having taken a couple of experimental hops, it took wing and headed in a westerly direction, seemingly none the worse for the ordeal.
I went back inside with a ridiculously heightened sense of achievement.
