I read the books and sat in the classes.  I read the books again and found some more of the books to read.  It all filled me with things to do, planning, preparation and dreams of the future.  And it always left the thought in my mind.  The thought was indelible and deep seated; I worried abut the swarm.  Will they swarm?  Will they be content and good little bees?  I worried and worried some more.  I mentioned it so much that the lovely Sharon began to roll her eyes and mock my anxiety.  I have to admit that I was never extremely worried about the trouble they might cause as they are said to be at their safest when they are swarming.  They are said to have a belly so full of honey that apparently even using their sting is a problem of practicalities. And now I am a witness to this; they were docile and uninterested in me.  It is difficult to describe this.  Even when I was ploughing my hand into them as they clustered on the tree and cupped them into the box, they behaved themselves.  There was not a single sting from the tens of thousands of them. No, I was not worried about the terror of a swarm.  I was worried about losing my bees!  We paid for those bees!

 honeybee swarm by rreis

Once the swarm actually happened in reality, despite my intervention by the book, the lovely Sharon became sympathetic to my concerns.  She was amazed at the numbers of them and how they filled the air just before condensing onto the tree.  But, she was never worried, our whole family seemed un-perturbed.  We all dragged the chairs and toys out on swarm Sunday and chatted and played in the back garden while the tens of thousands of bees walked the plank in the front garden.  It was only surreal if you stopped to think about, otherwise it was all quite normal.