Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: A quiz, solitary bees and a historic birthday surprise

It was my first time. I did it on impulse and felt quite confident. Then I got scared.

I realised everyone there was much more experienced than me. It was a pub quiz and I was suddenly intimidated.

But I was not alone – we had a team of four. However, the other teams had more members. There were questions about TV shows, which I knew I would struggle with, and sport, which would not be easy either. Then came literature, and surely I would shine.

But no. I got the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities wrong and attributed it to T S Eliot.

The worst thing was that we came second to last, but we had the best of times and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Another good thing that has happened this week is that the solitary bees have arrived in our new garden.

For my birthday in May, Mr T bought me a bee house. It looks like a bird box, but on the front are rows of little holes leading to tunnels. The idea is that the female bee lays her egg in a tunnel and then fills it with pollen and nectar for the larva, before sealing the entrance with materials she finds in the garden.

In my case, we must have some leafcutter bees because I have noticed that my wild cherry leaves have been used. They have moon-shaped cut-outs all around the edges.

I have only just found out that most of the bees we see are solitary bees, and I love the idea that sometimes they sleep in our flowers at night.

I have also only just discovered that wasps love meat.

We had finished our ham sandwiches while sitting on the patio when along came the predictable picnic wasp. But it was not looking for food for itself, because it eats sugary liquids. It was looking for protein to feed its larvae.

The wasp landed on small pieces of meat that had escaped from my slices of bread. It started cutting around an area until it had a piece it could carry, holding it against its thorax with its front legs.

It flew off in the direction of the hedge, where it must have had a nest. Surprisingly, it came back again and again until it had cleared my plate.

Another surprise has been a gift from my nephew – an original newspaper published on my birthday, May 8, 1945. It announced the ‘Historic Victory’.

I have read every word, and now I feel I could answer quiz questions on the Second World War.

Maybe next time?