Category: bee

Bees 🐝 in the city Manchester the Experience

There are literally hundreds of bees, so to see them all you need more than 1 day. I saw 10 on the afternoon / evening first arrived as 2 outside Piccadilly Station where arrived and then saw others walking to get dinner.

The second day I saw 92. Often little bees are in colonies I.e grouped close together, so you can see lots quickly.

There is an app which is great at counting up how many seen. On each bee is a number which key into app, when next to bee and it unlocks it; I found this fun. The app also gives rewards for unlocking certain bees.

I have been sharing my bees on my instrgram also called Wonderwall360 using #beesinthecity and #beesinthecitymcr which have thousands of other images attached.

The bees are in location in Manchester until 23rd September. Then prior to the auction, they are all in one place weekend of 12-14 Oct; tickets need to be bought for this and are expected to go quickly.

Tips

  • In addition to the app, a paper map is also useful, they are available various places including information office next to bus information in Piccadily gardens and the library.
  • I believe there is a bee at Manchester airport, so if you are on a train heading to the airport a strategy could be to stay on, see bee then jump back on a train into centre.
  • Unlocking bee outside Harvey Nicks gives you a reward for free hot drink in Harvey Nicks.
  • Unlocking the bee in front of Nando’s in Piccadily gardens gives you discount in Nando’s.
  • Unlocking bees in Corn Exchange gives you a discount on those bees.
  • Some bees are in buildings which will not be open 24/7. For example Manchester Art Gallery does not open until 10am but, the bee inside is a fine sparkly specimen.
  • The cathedral is best place for seeing lots of bees quickly.
  • I saw all the ones I saw walking from Piccadily and there are more within walking distance from there. But there are odd ones further out, which would need transport to see.

My favourite bees

  • Crown jewals in Manchester Art Gallery because so sparkly.
  • Pablo bee which features bright colourful Pablo Picasso inspired designs.
  • Rock and Roll bee because Liam Gallagher helped design it.
  • Mr Bee-n as fond memories of Mr Ben which inspired the design.

Bee books: Tell it to the bees 🐝 and The History of Bees 🐝

I did a mini flatlay with these two books, but not got storage space to upload, therefore it is on instagram instead.

https://instagram.com/p/BnGATlMARhJ/

Tell it to the bees 🐝By Fiona Shaw

This centres around a woman and her son being deserted by her husband. She subsequently starts a relationship with a woman, this was realistic in being undramatic, however the crux of my problem with book is lack of drama; I basically found it a little slow perhaps it was too nuanced for me.

The history of bees 🐝By Maja Lunde

This had narratives in 3 time eras: a past 1851, a presentish 2007 (although now recent past) and future 2098. I could not get on with 1851 narrative and ended up skipping those parts. Then 2007 narrative describes bees disappearing from hives. The 2098 is when bees have supposedly disappeared. I think the narratives did not cross reference and the only link was to show the chronological decline of bees.

2098 was dystopian which, I’m not a big fan of but, this was quite character based. This narrative started by showing humans having to painstakingly paint nectar on to flowers to pollinate. It then had the most dramatic of the three narratives.

Conclusion

I preferred The history of bees. However, both books were left in a Portabella charity shop rather than dragged back from Edinburgh with me. Yet 2 other books bought and read; Lullaby and The Stranger next door are in my luggage.

Books in luggage

Bee Here Now in Manchester city

I’m in Manchester, the childhood home of Noel and Liam Gallagher who’s 1997 album was called Be Here Now.

I’m wearing Lucy Locket hive leggings and I’m going to follow the Manchester bee sculpture trial.

To see Lucy Locket designs please follow my referral link.

My referral

The official website for the project states the following:

The bee sculptures will be auctioned off at the end of the trail to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s We Love MCR charity.

The charity aims to improve the life chances of Mancunians by providing financial support to local community groups, projects and individuals in need.

It is not to be confused with the similarly named We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, which was set up following the Manchester Arena terror attack to help support victims.

Bee in the City is not a memorial event; but organisers say they recognise the resonance the bee took on as a symbol of solidarity and resilience after the attack.

The auction will take place on October 17, 2018 at a venue still to be confirmed.

After the Manchester attack in solidarity many people got Manchester bee tattoos. The bee was a symbol of Manchester before that however as it represent  how busy the city was during the industrial revolution.

There are no pictures in this post, as I have reached my storage limit. The pictures that would be here are on instragram.

Bees on instragram