Occasionally my life doesn’t involve bees or autism. It’s good for everyone involved – we all get a break from one another and then come back more loving and committed than we were before.
‘Tis
the season and all that. A few years ago
I went drinking during the festive season with people from work. I don’t drink very often, but Christmas is
probably the one time I do let rip. I
took the train home and when I got to my stop I decided to walk to a take-away
and get some food. It’s not busy (it’s
not very late – I’m a lightweight) but there are a couple of teenage girls in
there, drunk and talking loudly to each other.
One has just split up with her boyfriend and the other is telling her
that she’ll do a lot better without him.
The friend grows quiet, maybe tired after giving the newly single buddy
all this support. She’s talking about
going to London and getting a job, being famous and becoming a millionaire. The supportive friend is now silent. And then the aspiring millionaire starts
talking about “now her modelling career is taking off” and that seems to be the
last straw for the friend -
“Joanne, give it a rest will you. You’re the face of Blaydon Carpets, not f******
Kate Moss”. I couldn’t hold in my
amusement and start laughing. At first
they just look at me, but then they start shouting and swearing at me, making
threats. I continue to laugh – too drunk
to realise it could get nasty. After a
minute or so the guy who runs the place throws the two out – without whatever
food they were waiting to be served. I’m
still laughing when I get my chips and leave.
I can see the two down the road – fortunately walking in the opposite
direction in which I need to go. I’ve
had ten minutes to eat my chips and stop laughing by the time I get home. Only it’s not ten minutes, because when I get
to the street where I live I start to feel the Christmas spirit, so decide to
take photos of all my neighbours’ Christmas lights. I get home, go to bed. The next morning I awake and look at my
phone, just to see about 20 pictures I’ve taken, all with my thumb over the
lens.
So if you’re an autism parent what do you take from this? Well, take a break once in a while. Do something typical people do. Go get drunk, go to the cinema, take the wife for lunch. You’ll feel better for it – we’re not saints. And if you’re a beekeeper – don’t mess with bees after you’ve had a drink. They’ll likely kick your butt.
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| Blaydon Carpets |
So if you’re an autism parent what do you take from this? Well, take a break once in a while. Do something typical people do. Go get drunk, go to the cinema, take the wife for lunch. You’ll feel better for it – we’re not saints. And if you’re a beekeeper – don’t mess with bees after you’ve had a drink. They’ll likely kick your butt.
Merry
Christmas.
I discovered your blog via Rusty's honeybeesuite blog.
ReplyDeleteI am a backyard beekeeper with 7 hives in Melbourne Australia.
I've never been visited by the apiary officer,not even when they were contacted about the mass death of bees in my hive. Did your (now deceased) inspector say why he came to visit?
Claire
Hi Claire. Thanks for reading my blog.
DeleteI’m told visits are random. Seasonal Bee Inspectors (SBIs) visit registered apiaries throughout the season looking for notifiable diseases and pests (American and European foulbrood, small hive beetle, topilaelaps mite and Asian Hornet). But (quite a big BUT really) there is no legal requirement for beekeepers to register. So if you don’t want these visits, then you just don’t register. I know a commercial beekeeper who gets a visit most years and then a hobby beekeeper who hasn’t been visited in the ten years they’ve had bees. But if you care for your bees I don’t see why you wouldn’t want an SBI to visit – I’ve only been visited this one time, but Chris had a great wealth of knowledge which he was happy to pass on. And I love talking about bees! SBIs are the principal link between the hobbyist and the government, but having said that, it is a relaxed and familiar relationship they have with the beekeeper. I know of one beekeeper who had concerns and emailed photos to his SBI and they got back to him within the day – fortunately it just turned out to be chilled brood. So if there was a mass die-out of bees, especially if it was unexplained, then I would hope they would be on it quite quickly.
Appreciate that your season is just getting into full swing in Australia. I hope it’s going to be a good one for you! Best wishes for 2019. xx