THE STING

I love bees,all sorts of bee and in the course of many years handling and observing them I have been stung only once,today I was stung for a second time.

I had been messing about in the garden ,planting Dianthus, watering ,tying in and so on when a sharp sting made me jump. A tiny bumble bee,one of the smallest varieties had got stuck between my boobs,panicked and stung ,as bees do when afraid.

Although seldom stung myself I have much experience in the treatment of bee stings on people and animals alike. We once owned a dog who loved to sleep under a huge gorse bush,bees adore gorse pollen and the poor old hound was always getting stung. You always knew he was hurting as he would howl like a banshee and do a couple of laps of the spinney before coming to one of us for comfort.

Yes over the years I have extracted bee venom sacks from some very odd places, today it was my turn. I could not see the sting positioned as it was,it was no use asking Pa as he could not hold the tweezers,my son was busy; I took up a magnifying glass and with the aid of a mirror and a bright cross ;light I removed the sting  with a stitch ripper,and applied a liberal squirt of anti histamine spray to prevent further swelling.

By dinner time I had taken on the appearance of a three boobed mutant,I was not amused, everyone else though the whole affair highly comic. I was even less amused,and the fact that no sympathy had been forthcoming at the time I was stung added insult to injury.

I can only wonder what it may look like by morning and have only one thing to say.........oh bum,!

Thank the Gods it refrained from stinging me there.