On New Year's Eve, as we all bundled into the garden to watch the fireworks, my bare foot splat into a puddle of thick, sticky liquid on the patio.

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'Someone's spilt their Bailey's' was my first thought ... but we were having bubbly, not Bailey's, and soon we were carried away with the festivities and i forgot about it.

The next day, I managed to get to the puddle for closer investigation just before the dog licked up the last drop (Perdida is always licking up interesting things in the garden), and found it was ... pure honey.

We've always had a lot of bees nesting somewhere in a conduit for the upstairs airconditioner, and haven't worried too much about them - they provide great sport for Perdida - but this was a first. We went upstairs to have a closer look, and sure enough, honey seemed to be oozing THROUGH THE WALL, onto the balcony, over the edge, and dripping onto the patio. We quickly put a bowl on a table out of Perdida's reach ('Home-produced Hanna Honey'- I could already see the jars lined up on our local supermarket shelf). But oddly enough, after three little drops - no more honey - and the next day, an entire cemetery of dead bees on the patio. Since then, nothing.

I know very little about bees and honey - anyone have an explanation?