(no subject)
Today our school was besieged by bees. Actually, given how long they were swarming they were probably wasps, but I only heard them referred to as bees and "bees" is a much funnier word to think about. Bees bees bees.
At about 12 PM, we were sitting doing a past paper in Physics and wondering when break was going to come, when another science teacher (who I don't know, but apparently has a posh degree) walked in and asked Mr B to close all of his windows because his window was full of bees. A minute or so after he left, Mr C (who teaches Biology and frequently injures himself while mountain-climbing) darted through our classroom on his way down the corridor of science labs and advised all of us to stop breathing in case we triggered the carbon dioxide monitors and opened the windows again. Perils of attending a school with a modern building, you know. Just before the bell rang for lunch, there was an announcement over the intercom: "Students, do not go outside. There is a swarm of bees surrounding the school. Thank you."
There was a fair amount of complaining, not only from people who wanted to go and smoke have their lunch on the field but from nerds like ourselves who prefer to stay indoors. It was really crowded. The staff didn't seem especially pleased either; an RE teacher wandering past our table informed us that a couple of the administrative staff had suggested closing the school if the bees didn't go away, but that didn't come to anything, maybe because that would have forced a few of the teachers into shepherding small groups of children back and forth through a cloud of bees. Also, halfway through lunch somebody thought it would be funny to set off the fire alarm, which necessitated another intercom message telling students not to evacuate the building. This was the opposite state of affairs to what usually happens when the fire alarm goes off at break time.
When I walked out of school, I didn't see any bees, although teachers were still barring pupils from walking outside (I escaped with a friend round the back of the canteen). In fact, the only bees I saw all day were a group of maybe ten or so hovering outside the original science teacher's window at the very start of lunch break. But it was interesting, anyway - and lucky for my friend, who is allergic to stings.
At about 12 PM, we were sitting doing a past paper in Physics and wondering when break was going to come, when another science teacher (who I don't know, but apparently has a posh degree) walked in and asked Mr B to close all of his windows because his window was full of bees. A minute or so after he left, Mr C (who teaches Biology and frequently injures himself while mountain-climbing) darted through our classroom on his way down the corridor of science labs and advised all of us to stop breathing in case we triggered the carbon dioxide monitors and opened the windows again. Perils of attending a school with a modern building, you know. Just before the bell rang for lunch, there was an announcement over the intercom: "Students, do not go outside. There is a swarm of bees surrounding the school. Thank you."
There was a fair amount of complaining, not only from people who wanted to go and smoke have their lunch on the field but from nerds like ourselves who prefer to stay indoors. It was really crowded. The staff didn't seem especially pleased either; an RE teacher wandering past our table informed us that a couple of the administrative staff had suggested closing the school if the bees didn't go away, but that didn't come to anything, maybe because that would have forced a few of the teachers into shepherding small groups of children back and forth through a cloud of bees. Also, halfway through lunch somebody thought it would be funny to set off the fire alarm, which necessitated another intercom message telling students not to evacuate the building. This was the opposite state of affairs to what usually happens when the fire alarm goes off at break time.
When I walked out of school, I didn't see any bees, although teachers were still barring pupils from walking outside (I escaped with a friend round the back of the canteen). In fact, the only bees I saw all day were a group of maybe ten or so hovering outside the original science teacher's window at the very start of lunch break. But it was interesting, anyway - and lucky for my friend, who is allergic to stings.