The Cleaning of Parts

Cleaning hive-parts at end-of-season is hard grind, arguably the least glamorous part of beekeeping: laboriously scraping propolis off ageing timber; barking knuckles; picking up splinters; nurdling into corners. Then wire-brushing all the surfaces, trying to ensure the bristles penetrate deeper cracks; abrading down to bare wood. Cleaning up the sticky, dusty mess as you go, so that it does not re-adhere to what you have just cleaned

Finally, 'scorching' the wood, and especially the joints. This is using a naked flame to heat the surface - and any residual propolis - to as high a temperature as possible, to the point where the wood starts to blacken but (mostly!) does not actually catch alight. Some people use a blowtorch; I use one of those 'wands' that are designed for incinerating weeds growing between paving slabs

My new hearing aids have bluetooth. Any sound on the mobile can go directly into my ears. It's great for calls - much less effort. I was tempted to play a podcast while scraping; something to relieve the monotony. Instead, I made myself focus on being outside - distant brewery sounds, birdsong, garden hum, summer colours turning to autumn. It felt wiser to disconnect from the electronic universe and enjoy for a while the real one in real time

The water lily has never produced more than one flower before. This is the second, with promise of a third