Tell them about the honey, mummy!

You've got to be quick with rape honey - as soon as the flowers start to fade the honey has to be off the hive and into the extractor, otherwise it sets rock solid in the comb.
I wasn't quick ........ I went on holiday instead and after I got back it rained and rained. So when I finally got into the hive earlier this week I wasn't sure whether I would need a honey extractor or a pneumatic drill!
Initial signs were encouraging - I couldn't lift the top box because of the weight of honey. Instead I had to resort to removing the frames two at a time and carrying them into the house, having first carefully brushed off the bees. Twenty frames later and all the honey was safely inside and a number of rather angry bees were buzzing around outside.
As I started to uncap the honey comb with a knife it became immediately obvious that some of the honey had already crystallised, which meant extraction was going to be tricky: Spin the extractor too quickly and the honeycomb would fly apart; spin it too slowly and the liquid honey would stubbornly remain in the comb.
Three hours later I had one smashed comb and about 10 lb of honey remaining firmly set in the frames. But best of all I had 40 of these:

40lb of spring honey off one hive is a respectable result, but as you can see, it has already set in the jar just 4 days after extraction.
There's one consolation -  at least the Honey Monster won't be able to get his paws into it!