The Sting of Spring.

By Stef Smith (writer and director of The Silence of Bees)

As I type I am sitting ‘on site’ or rather the Lush Staff room. Surrounded by broken bath bombs and a little trail of keys, coffee cups and phone chargers. Spring is in the air today and that fills me with hope. Nature has a funny way of lulling us out of our bad moods and heavy jackets. And I’ll switch my evening drink from spiced rum to gin and tonic, seems more spring like…

My first and only bee sting was when I was 7 and I stood on a bee in my garden. It hurt and now looking back my little 7 year old self didn’t think much of that moment. 20-something me, still remembers it. My dad told me not to cry and put a cold compress on my foot. Maybe we ate ice cream on the stone wall, maybe he made a joke about it, maybe he tried to distract me by letting me help him garden. I don’t know the other details but I like to pretend I can imagine them. It makes the memory fuller.

When was your first bee sting? Have you been stung by a bee?

Spring 2012 and I still haven’t seen a single bee.