Best Bitter

Our daughter is an Occupational Therapist: broadly someone who helps people overcome medical and social barriers to them occupying themselves with something they consider worthwhile (I made that up - I hope she thinks I'm on the right track!) From that, you can take it that an 'occupation' includes, but extends way beyond, paid work. It certainly includes beekeeping, and harvesting apples (William Crump, Tydeman's Late Orange and Adams' Pearmain, today)

The nice thing about living beside a picturesque, historic brewery is that the world comes to you. In this case, the world of mini steam engines. Who knew?! We spoke to a couple of the overalled men and women who were adjusting valves and pulling levers. We had to weather a storm of vocabulary: flanges and cams and cranks. We asked what scale the models were, and were told "four inches". Translation: 4 inches to 1 foot, or one third scale (metrication, take that!) 

We did well enough to learn that one man had spent 18 years building his machine, working from plans that he had paid for. Over that time, he compiled a list of 70 errors in the plans, that he has published on line. He showed us where the positioning of some bolts was incorrect by 1/16 inch, and where some gears that the plans deemed to be 1/2 inch wide actually needed to be closer to 3/4". He seemed extraordinarily angry about these failings (steamed up, even?) but I did wonder if finding them was at least as much part of his occupation as turning piston-shafts on a lathe

That said, he seemed even more angry about his relationship with the clubs and societies that run events like this, so perhaps angry is his happy place. This is a familiar phenomenon in voluntary clubs and societies; I'm sure you have experienced it. Beekeeping associations are not immune! Would a therapist (whose role covers both physical and mental wellbeing) consider an occupation like this a success? I need to talk to our daughter

I have attached a couple of temporary extras that gave me a chuckle