As Flies To Wanton Boys.

One gets to a certain point in life and think that nothing can really surprise you. But then one day one finds that one is wrong.

Cycling home past Victoria Park making a right turn for home, I caught a glimpse of something grotesque in the road: someone had caught six bumble bees, and trapped them in a small, screw-lid juice bottle. I put on the brakes, disbelieving of my eyes but there they were, the poor things.

I hopped off and released them onto the pavement from their Hell: one being already dead with the others crawling over him as if grieving, then they made for the shelter of a parked car but not before one stopped and died - probably of shock. The survivors looked bedraggled, seeming to be shivering - their wings and hair matted as if damp - and confused by the stress of their dreadful captivity.

I cannot understand why anyone would do this to an amazing and fascinating, beautiful creature; especially in the light of the grim fact that bees seem to be in decline worldwide. Albert Einstein once was to have said:

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live".

So many plants and crops that we rely on for our continued survival depend on pollination by various species of bees, so we have to educate people about their importance to life on Earth - and not just those local & wanton boys.