Hello, my name is Jerry. Well, for the purposes of this blog it is anyway. The real Jerry (pictured below) was my first dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. He’s no longer with us, but you’ll see plenty of references to him and his son ‘Bear’ in this blog. Here’s what Jerry looked like;
After two decades as a British expat, living and working all over the World, I now live in country Australia, I am in my (late) 50’s and ex military. I worked for a long time as a ‘consultant’ in the security world and after many years in more corporate positions, I am back (metaphorically) flying by the seat of my pants again.
Social media, of the kind where you post pictures of your every meal and multiple pouty selfies is anathema to me and as I am not good at regularly keeping in touch with my wider circle of family and friends who are strewn all over the world, I thought that I might exploit the relative anonymity of a blog and at the same time, take advantage of the conveniences of modern mass communication. Baring my soul has never been my thing and I do have mental health problems – chronic assholia combined with extreme paranoia, according to my children, but hey ho, not having a sense of humour was never a failing I admitted to.
By dint of years burning the candle at both ends and in the middle with a blowtorch, I am joint by joint, falling apart physically and keeping fit ceased to be the pleasure that it once was as it’s now a necessity. I toned down the running, took up cycling but I still stumble after the dogs through the local bush whenever I can. At a very low moment, I departed from habits of a lifetime and listened to my inner voice and those closest to me and got a hobby. Actually, I thought that as one hobby would be good for good for me, several hobbies would be even better…… I also now keep Bees, make beer, and distill gin, keep two old cars running and I want to build a pizza oven, the planning of which will probably be as therapeutic as the building.
I have never really shared details of my travels, but as I am getting to some interesting places and I feel able to share more about where I go so, I am planning to share pictures and stories whenever I can. I apologise in advance for the sometimes self indulgent nature of my blogging but it’s a kind of therapy right?
The title of this blog is “The Bear and the Bees” for reasons which will become obvious, but for those of you who are familiar with Aesop’s fable of the same name, you’ll know that the Bear, aware that it’s probably all going to go wrong, can’t help himself and does it anyway. That pretty much sums me up.
As I have now had over 157, 000 hits on this site, someone is obviously occasionally having a read, so thank you! If you are new to this blog and you’d like to cut to the chase and read some of the past posts that have had the most hits, please try clicking the links to them here
Adventures with cartels in Mexico – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=1895
Kidnappers and the blue suit – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?m=202106
Covid 19 – My internment – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=1500
Guns and Mangoes – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=832
Too much information – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=433
And its follow up – a conscious uncoupling – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=668
Muang Lao – where the ground goes bang! https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=186
Goodnight Mr Ping – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=290
A portal to another world – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=334
The tree – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=217
I love Bees – https://www.thebearandthebees.com/?p=340
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Jerry.