Billy Elliot the musical

No surprise that my morning got underway with a walk around the Three Mile with the dogs.

I returned to find that 30% had made a start on emptying a small log store that sits beneath one of the store room windows.  The log store needs to be moved so that I can get access to the window frame, replace the missing putty and install the next set of security bars.

I assisted with clearing the log store and spent the remainder of the morning stacking the logs on the log pile in the car port and the final few were carted up to Rose Cottage.

After lunch I carried out this week's inspection of my colony and was delighted with what I found. I lifted the crown board from the super and found the hive crammed with bees. On checking a few frames in the super, I could see that they were already being filling with nectar, and I would estimate that the bees had half filled it in the past week.

In the brood box I found the centre six frames filled with brood and I also caught sign of the queen wandering across the comb.  I couldn't have hoped for a colony in a better state and their temperament is unbelievably calm.* I gently reassembled the hive and added an extra super on top ... with all that brood they will certainly soon need the space.

After finishing my inspection, I returned to the old log store and decided that it wasn't worth saving. I then had an internal debate about whether it was worth careful deconstruction and saving of the timber. Fortunately good sense won and it was smashed apart and sacrificed to the fire gods up in the orchard.

The rest of the afternoon was spent clearing the cracked and crumbling putty from the store room window frame now it is accessible.

This evening saw a visit to No.8, Pershore to see a screening of the film of Billy Elliot the musical. I was interested to note that the female members of the audience outnumbered the men by a factor of 10:1. As for the screening, it was absolutely amazing. Obviously the story is the same as the film, but I found that the political and social turmoil of the miner's strike seemed to be given greater emphasis in the musical version.  The actor playing Billy; Elliott Hanna was very believable and showed incredible stamina for a performance that was close to three hours.

It was an amazing show and I would definitely recommend a viewing.

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* Colony temperament can vary wildly and I have had some evil tempered colonies in the past. Ones where the entire colony is out of the hive and stinging you as soon as the crown board has been lifted, despite copious quantities of smoke.