Anticipation of Pain

I've been working on the Bee Project for a few months now and I've still not been stung...

I've been told that you're not a real bee keeper until you have been stung. When i'm blocking the entrance to the hives as i'm recording the sound of the bees or taking photos i know i'm making the bees irritable and frustrated. When i'm out looking for bumblebees and trying to get good shots of them i know they're not happy sometimes - they throw their legs up to the side in a 'get away from me' gesture. So, it's only a matter of time before i get stung good and proper.

Bees are seen as heroic and noble when they sting - they die after stinging, so they must have a real reason for making such a sacrifice. They are forgiven. Unlike wasps who we think deliberately go about looking for targets they can sting repeatedly.

Last summer i was walking to my mum's house and an insect of some description plopped on to the top of my head and stung me twice. It hurt SO much! What didn't help was that the day before i'd been to a funeral and was suffering from a bit of a hangover and I was on the way to the dentist. My mum decided to help by putting a massive greasy blob of vaseline on the sting site (and all in my hair too). Thanks mum. My wish was that whatever the insect was it eventually died a horrid death after it crawled off into the hedge - but as it stung me twice i presumed it was laughing its little insect head off while cruising for it's next victim of pain.

www.insectstings.co.uk/beesting.shtml