I can certainly relate to the recent experience of the two 9-year-old boys in Rotorua who had to run for cover and dive into a stream after being chased and stung by a swarm of bees. The boys who were playing in Bellingham Crescent had to take refuge in the ice cold Utuhina Stream after they were confronted by the bees.
After the ordeal the boys were hastily whisked up to the hospital as a precaution in case they had an allergic reaction. These two young guys are to be commended for their quick thinking - and must surely be thanking their lucky stars that a stream was within diving distance.
Bees are bad enough when disturbed but wasps get particularly tetchy when rattled - and become incensed when around picnic food.
One time I remember hiking with a group around the shores of Lake Okataina, and sitting down for a quiet picnic on a tiny beach at the far end of the lake.
Within seconds of taking out our sammies, a squadron of wasps appeared on the scene with napkins around their thoraxes, determined to muscle in on our food.
For some reason my filled roll was singled out as the beast's "plat du jour" and my predicament became a very uncomfortable one indeed.
The more I flicked and waved my arms, the more determined - aggressive actually - the wasps became. Like the two boys, I too took refuge in the water - in the lake.
Having hung out for so long to get my teeth into my yummy roll, there was no way I was going to give it up.
So there I was, several metres out from the shore, crouched down, completely submerged except for my hand holding the roll just above the water, like the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
Coming up for air and a bite every few seconds, soon had the problem solved, after which the squadron of wasps lost interest, reformed and flew off back to base.
There must be hundreds of such stories regarding wasps and bees, with some being hilarious and others tragic. These little fellows can kill and the quick thinking of the two Rotorua boys certainly saved their hides.
***
We thought that we'd done a smart thing for Christmas 2013 by buying a real live tree. A wee bit on the small side, but it served the purpose, with the prospect of being definitely big enough for next festive season.
The tree came in a pot with soil, giving us the impression that there were roots and that after a month or two of care and watering we could transfer it into something more permanent.
After watching the poor thing slowly die in the meantime, we enquired at the mega store-cum nursery where we bought it and asked "what's up?"
The assistant simply nodded and said that there were no roots and that the tree was simply a cutting, stuck into a pot of soil - so no 2014 Christmas decorations will be going on this little fella.
Curiosity however, prompted us to extract the tree from the pot and - hey what's this? A new twist was revealed. There were roots, albeit rather bunched up, strangling any hope of the tree's further growth.
Alas, the poor thing has since withered to a crisp. Perhaps if we had extracted it way back on Boxing Day, the tree might have been saved.
Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and has recently celebrated 10 years writing And Another Thing.
