Big Adventure!

Okay before I write this I just want to say PLEASE don’t write me any comments about how we could have done things differently, you can take it from me, what happened was the best and safest option for our family. Oh and Emily... Don't read on!

The Story of the Bees

So we arrived at the mill, excited and weary from the journey, dying to get inside with the pizza we’d purchased, dying for an ice cold beer we knew would be in the fridge, dying to just relax for a few weeks...There are about twenty keys for the house, and so baggage underarm, Bill began the process of elimination required to enter the house. Just as he got to the last key, and began to turn the lock, Little M said quietly “Look at all the Bees”...

There, coming from a crack, camouflaged against the stone work, were a score of bees. We looked up and saw more coming, landing, and entering the crevice. We backed away, slowly.I am allergic, only stung once on the hand which swelled like a balloon. If I’m stung again, the same may happen, or I could go into anaphalatic shock too, so I have to be extra careful. Alot of my family suffer reactions to Bee stings as well, my cousin was hospitalised after a sting on the neck, so I am also cautious for my children.

We came into the house from the front door which is rarely used, and were not at all prepared for what we saw. In the space between the wooden outer door and the glass inner door, at the back of the house, was an enormous hive, maybe twelve or more stalactite like compartments hanging down in the space.... And, my god, the bees, there was thousands and thousands of them.

We sat listening the droning hum for a few moments, but then Bill realised they were coming through the house as well and so we stuck the mosquito net up between the rooms and sat wondering what the hell we could do. It quickly turned from “we’re safe here” to “eh run!” when the bees, seeing the light, were suddenly all over the mosquito net and some managed to get through the space. It was like something from 'The Swarm'! By this time I was a nervous wreck and Little M was in hysterics. It was getting hard to handle.

Our caretaker was over like a shot when we rang him, he said it happens sometimes, but even he stood in awe at the creation between the doors. He said the local beekeeper would be happy to take it away and we could kill the ones in the house and just seal up the door for the night. But then after he made a few phone calls everything changed, and the next thing we knew he was spraying the hive and the bees were dropping dead onto the doorstep in their thousands.

It appeared the bees living in our doorway were aggressive, and the local authorities were trying to get rid of them, the local bees were being run out of town by these larger aggressive bullies... So they were killed.

Its hard to know if that was what should have been done, or whether the bees we had were as dangerous as thought. But that is what was done, the bees were killed, quickly and painlessly of course, but as they lay dead in piles around their empty hive, I felt so guilty. As the hive was ripped down and discarded, and the clear golden honey dripped and ran down the gloved arms of the men, I wished I could go back... but we couldn’t... and even when we thought about it logically – killing them was still the only solution. We could have got a second opinion but that probably would have probably been to kill them anyway... and we couldn’t have risked staying in the house with them until Monday...

Its sad but its how it happened. The bees made a mistake, and unfortunately they lost because of it. This may sound oversentimental to some, not sentimental enough to others, but thats how it is. This is our house, they made a mistake building a hive here, and that had to go. Our childrens safety, and our own safety comes first. I remember my father saying he would not swerve to avoid an animal on the road, for the sake of his passengers, I know what he means.

Now in the cool morning the men are sweeping the last of bees away, the hive is gone, and the wax burned off the walls... The only job left is for me, to scrub the honey off the stones before the ants arrive... As I scrub, one lone bee arrives home and lands on the door where he knows his home should be... he sits there for a moment, before circling the door a few times and then he slowly flies away.