Mum & daughters with their noodles

Well two out of the three - Sigi & Angie with Mum Paula cooling off a little despite the pool being around 30°C. We moved all the chairs & tables on to the grass in the shade of large trees as the terrace was simply unbearably hot and the covered patio had 40°C. Men kept watch on their wheat beer (Weissbier) although later even Paula's husband, Peter, went for a swim. Coffee and cake was not touched but I did as a token to celebrate the royal birth, make one cucumber sandwich and cut it into very small bite sizes. I don't think I have made or eaten a cucumber sandwich for 40 years or more but I wanted the very Bavarian company to have a touch of British tradition. Real black tea would not even be considered in Bavaria so I didn't even bother to ask. Gerhard stopped at four well stocked drink stores on the way here from Ingolstadt but couldn't find any Pimms. He wanted to go in to Munich but Sigi stopped him as they were running late. Should have used the car their son Tobias used this week for a quick trip to Monaco with a friend who works for Audi. They borrowed an Audi TT RS+ with 360HP and an official top speed of 280kmh. While at the wheel he photographed the speedo showing 295kmh (185mph) - on a German autobahn and not on the principality's streets.

MrB joined us for a quick cup of coffee after filling the offspring beehive with two more combs. Learnt a bit more this week. Being in intensively cut pasture land, there are few suitable flowers for bees at this time of year, so the bees produce what we call here Waldhonig (Forest Honey) commonly known as Honeydew Honey. I always thought that meant they somehow managed to find enough pollen from the various trees but in fact most of it (there are some flowers from wild berries) comes from aphids which suck out the sap of the trees, keep the protein and excrete the sugars which the bees (or ants, birds) collect. This dark honey reputedly has a higher medicinal value than the major spring dandelion honey. The disadvantage is that it is unsuitable for overwintering the bees (too high in minerals which can cause them a tummy upset & death in a cold winter!), so apparently we need to remove this honey (for us of course) and we will then in August have to feed a commercially produced sugar which they will then turn in to their winter food reserve. It is all somewhat more complicated than I first imagined but more important than ever. The German equivalent of Which?, published an article this month just on the effects of the dwindling bee population and the dramatic knock on for our fruit & veg. Can't remember them having such an article that wasn't directly connected with a consumer product - iron, toaster etc.

When the sun began to sink, we had a BBQ, a drink or three and Paula & Peter made their way home slowly in the dark, while we (except me) soon followed to bed, exhausted from too much food, too much drink and too much heat. Angie had a quick swim at 23:30 and the dogs are now laid out on the cold kitchen tiles.

I gather the UK is having a mixed weekend, but hope you are enjoying yourselves.