Blowing in the Winds of Change

joeyjimbles

The bee-keeping course sounds fabulous - we moved into a house with beehives when I was a little girl, and I can remember a man coming one late evening in the summer to take them away. He had visited several times to tell them they were going and I can remember seeing him out in the garden with his hat and veil taking them. it was always a haven for insects in that garden, but the majority of the bees went as far as I could tell.
Hope the slightly cooler nights are providing more restful sleep for you.

*Robin*

Hi Joeyjimbles, :hello:

Ah yes, talking to bees.. All the apiarists I've ever met have done that, although I've no idea whether the bees actually listen! Still, will make a point of remembering to do so during my first - doubtless clumsy - attempts at interacting with the hives we'll meet and learn about on the course.
Planting trees and keeping bees seem such useful small ways that an 'ordinary' person can get involved with, to help make the World a better place for everyone in the future (breathing and a varied diet provided by insect pollinators being rather important basics)..
If I'm honest, am also influenced by the inestimable late lamented Mr Pratchett's descriptions of Granny Weatherwax - would love to earn the same relationship with bees that he portrayed his character as having (it'll be many years before I'd dare 'dance' with an active colony though! :rotfl:).
..It's lovely so many people have good memories of bee-keeping which must have been a normal part of country life until quite recently. Do hope a resurgance is possible..

The tenants were unexpectedly 'out' - although they knew we were going to visit - so DS pruned some bushes which were growing a bit too enthusiastically over the garden wall while some of the neighbours and I had a chat; they were all delighted to see CD still pottering about at my heels.
Am beginning to wonder at the contrasts between homehome and this new house in the city. There is no way children would be allowed to disturb other residents, nor any of the adults shame themselves by indulging in public screaming matches at homehome (not talking about MH-Chap; there were a couple of East Europeans having a right ol' ding-dong at the other end of the road when we returned earlier - had to wait until they got out of the way before I could drive carefully past!). ..Is it simply the difference between urban and village life? There seem to be similar problems in the suburb where Dear Relative lives - yet neither area is considered 'rough' and there's a mixture of owned and rented properties in all three locations. <sigh>

Paid off the CC I'd charged the bee-keeping course on to, before I forgot (statement due next week). Now must remember to use surplus journey-cash for expenses rather than the bank-card, at least until the end of the month. :cool2:

beanielou

Good to 'see' you :wave:

*Robin*

Well, am getting upset now; really concerned about the welfare of MH-Chap and - more importantly - his Mum.
About an hour ago I was woken up by more screaming in the street, death threats and cursing. ..Feels like the prologue to a Daily Fail story which will end in Police tape and the Coroner's van!

It's gone quiet again, but but but m' mind is churning; where is the line between concerned neighbourliness and nosy-parkering in this situation? I don't know any of these people, neither does DS4 nor his house-mates. They say they didn't notice any disturbances until a few weeks ago, but MH-Chap's outbursts are becoming more frequent.

In Spain, I'd have a quiet word with the village Mayor, who'd know whether a resident is receiving treatment - and everyone would be looking out for them and their family anyway so I'd just be told how I could help; put on the caring rota as it were - but here? The racket has stopped so calling the Police wouldn't be appropriate, but what or who else is available - can the answer really be: "Nothing, no-one - until after a tragedy"?

Obviously, don't want to become a target for the poor man's fury m'self or risk the safety of DS and his friends, but am so worried I'm almost in tears and sleep has fled - which is going to impact on energy levels later today when I'll need to be alert in order to drive safely. Am glad DS, CD and self are going away for a while - but also feel guilty because that means ducking out of any responsibility for averting a potentially baad situation..

Hello Beanie, :wave: thanks for popping in - sorry not to be able to give you a more cheerful welcome right now - feeling too distracted!

Dansmam

Morning Robin and sorry to hear about the disturbance. The equivalent of the Spanish mayor is your local council who will either know of be able to check MH man is getting treatment/support. Given the death threats you could report via a call to 101 (non emergency equivalent of 999)which will refer to social services or police as appropriate - you could explain about not wanting repercussions for self DS etc and ask them to treat as anonymous. I know social services are never popular but adult safeguarding is taken increasingly seriously these days and they can work out how vulnerable mum is. Given how noisy he is he's probably already been assessed for risks but as you say, if he hasn't it would be better for powers that be not to find out after an 'event'.
Then you'll be able to get in with your own day - sounds busy! And feel free to ignore all the above if you think of a better way or decide you don't need to get involved. Hope your day turns a corner - safe travelling!

*Robin*

Thank you so very much for responding with sensible suggestions Dansmam :T
..Found a number for the Adult Safeguarding Team and passed on my concerns to them. No idea what action will be taken - that's really not my business - but the abuse against MH-Chap's Mum has been logged, beaurocratic wheels have begun turning and hopefully she'll get some help to cope with his mercurial outbursts in the very near future.

Do feel much better knowing I haven't ignored someone in distress - old MSE friends will remember that we've had to deal with a number of MH crises among mates and family in the past, and there were just too many worrying parallels here.. :cool:

Right. Time to give CD her morning pills and wash up the dishes I didn't have enough energy to sort out last night, then start packing away loose items so that camper-van is ready to go..

joeyjimbles

What wonderful resources MSE people know about, I had no idea what you could do given the circumstances so I'm so pleased that Dansmam had such good sensible advice. You will feel better that you have logged it, and should there be re occurrences then there will be a marker to follow up on hopefully.
I hope the rest of your busy day was less eventful.

*Robin*

Good morning everyone, and thanks for popping in, Joey. :hello:

It's taken a while to wake up properly today, for the second time. Divo Four rose at dawn to take advantage of a great 'photo opportunity. As I heard him moving around, a cold wet nose thrust under the covers; CD licked me until she got a reaction - she thought it was time we were all up and doing, bless her.
..DS took her with him to explore the magnificent scenery - bless him too for letting me rest a few hours longer.

Yesterday turned into a day of delays and frustrations; DS vanished on his bike when I thought we were ready to go. Did m' washing while waiting but the gas bottle ran out. Finally Dear Son returned, and we got to the sole local gas supplier just before closing time - at this point about six hours after our ETD - but they didn't have any 'lite' refills. Fingers crossed the second little bottle lasts until we can source another, or Robin will be a grumpy bunny without regular cups of tea for sustenance, lol.

Looking for a positive, being so late setting off meant I noticed when a doctor and nurse [or maybe social worker?] called round to visit MH-Chap's Mum. As they left she was smiling in her doorway, looking much happier - which was quite a relief, and justification for making that 'phone-call (I'd not felt really great after doing it - nobody likes a 'grass' - but it seems that was the right decision this time). So thanks again for the suggestion and your encouragement Dansmam - hopefully, between us we have helped someone towards a better future..

Being already quite tired when we began driving, I trusted Snoopy to choose the route around London; it sent us along the ribbon of towns to the North of the M25, thus avoiding miles of tailbacks (according to radio traffic reports). So it's inbuilt wifi does work; am impressed, and have forgiven it for the mistakes near Bilbao.

CD is funny. She's quite happy to lie on her sheep-skin rug, dozing between camper-van's front seats as we drive - until we stop moving, when she expects to be let out for a sniff around. Which is fine, except at traffic lights. She just does not understand those, and sings grumpily for ages when we're in stop-start traffic.

Found a Waitrose last night just before they shut, so indulged in a rare yellow ticket ready-meal which was easier and quicker than cooking from scratch. It was surprisingly good, if a tad over-salted for our taste.

Spends:
Fuel top up (costs roughly £30 more to fill the tank here) - £40
Groceries - £13

beanielou

Good call on the chap with MH issues.
Best to be safe rather than sorry me thinks.

*Robin*

beanielou wrote: »

Good call on the chap with MH issues.
Best to be safe rather than sorry me thinks.

Thanks Beanie - recently there have been all too many murderous outrages; I've noticed in the news reports afterwards that people who knew the perpetrator say over and again:
"Oh he got really weird recently.." Then giving examples of peculiar behaviour - but no-one thought to act on their observations, or even comment until after an innocent has died..
Anyway the 'phone-call was made; hopefully this time there will be a happy continuence rather than a sad ending.

Our adventure has rumbled on, another day and more miles. Yet again we missed out on a visit to Divo Three and Gorgeous-Girlfriend late Wednesday night; they'd kept working until 2230 getting all the glamping kit set up at this weekend's festival site, but by then couldn't cope with anything other than falling into bed.
DS4 and I had already turned off the main route to Devon when DS3's 'phone finally came on, so a quick perusal of the map was in order - to find ourselves another spot where we could spend the night.
Not many camp-sites welcome unexpected guests at such a late hour, but I suddenly realised we were less than ten miles from Stonehenge.. Perfect.
It's been a long, long time since I've spent the night there and DS never had, so that's where we ended up - alongside at least a dozen other campervans.
Divo Four's dawn 'photos are marvellous, with the Stones skirted in mist and no-one around* apart from some curious sheep (*the security guards were friendly, standing to one side so as not to obscure DS' view - thank you gentlemen, if any of you are reading this ).

By the time we got moving the A303 was completely jammed heading towards London, but our carriageway was relatively clear and we made good progress. CD decided she needed a break about thirty miles short of our destination so I took the next exit - and found m'self facing a branch of m' favourite discount supermarket.
DS and CD went for a walk while I stocked up on drinking water, meat for CD, enough ingredients for a weeks' worth of 'human' meals and a few staples for campervan's cupboards. Remember thinking as I pushed the trolley back to the car-park:
"We can live like royalty on less than £40 a week by avoiding Tosco!"

Found the camp-site next door to where the bee-keeping course will take place; settled in and Divo Four cooked dinner while I felt fortunate to be able to relax (a process continuing to the present moment).
So far today only one other student has arrived (although some may be staying in local B&Bs). This site consists of a large [empty] field, but our new companion has chosen to pitch his tent three metres behind campervan - why do people do that?
Oh well, we'll introduce ourselves at the induction session this evening. As our temporary neighbour wants to learn about bee-keeping I'm sure he'll turn out to be a very nice chap - a future friend, perhaps?

Spends:
Groceries - £32