The first day of the rest of my life. The ladies have landed.

Last night a very kind chap from the Skills Exchange brought our new hive. 

For the last 5 years at least I have been whittling on about bees. The down turn in bee populations worries me and it feels like a symptom of a wider dysfunction in the world at large. Bees are, in so many cultures, a symbol of what is good and right. Earlier this year I said to my husband "I really want a bee hive" and he said "Great idea" much to my surprise. So we planned to go to a local course, look into it and perhaps next spring acquire a basic hive, a small swarm of bees. 

A couple of weeks later we were talking to a friend and mentioned our interest and she told us about a lovely lady who kept bees for many many years but became suddenly and severely allergic to bee stings. Sadly she has had to re home her bees and although a friend was looking after the hive for her it needed to be moved before the weather got too cold. We met her got on extremely well and decided a corner of our small urban garden with a brick wall and lots of ivy would be ideal. They went on a short holiday three miles away (you can move bees less than three feet or more than three miles but anything between means they can't navigate.-more of this later no doubt).

Two weeks later they have arrived. We still haven't had any training! It's too late in the season for courses. We've read loads of books but it looks as though, with the help of local bee keepers and the skills exchange we will be learning on the job.

My name is Katherine. I live in a semi detached house on a main road with my husband, two sons and two tom cats. The bees have now redressed the gender balance somewhat. 

Welcome to our journey.