Pharmaceutical companies have been making trillions since mankind listened to the book thumping heavies, developed a dislike to witches and burnt them at stakes. Gone were the herbal remedies, the spicy potions, the handmade soothing creams. The scene was set for the start of an industry that was going to make mega money for the few to the detriment of many.

Most of us, especially reaching an age most certain, are prescribed so many tablets by overworked medics (quicker for them) that some kitchens and bedside tables look more like drugstores than domestic utilities. I have worked in a kitchen where there was hardly any room to slice an onion. Dozens of bottles of pills jostled their way between the bottles of vodka, gin, whisky, vermouth and various cartons of soft drinks, half empty without any top on. To serve a decent gin and tonic in that house was a challenge. The big American fridge had an ice (crushed or whole) gadget in the door. It had broken down long time ago and was never repaired. To find a lemon was a perilous expedition in the fridge. You never knew what was lurking in the permafrost few inches thick on the back element.

Nature has given us the most miraculous drug: honey. On top of its curative powers it can be enjoyed on a piece of toast or in a sauce. A teaspoon of honey in a salad dressing or in a pot of tomato sauce will make all the difference. A beef casserole that has been drowned in the dredges of a bottle of red plonk from the last party might be more palatable with the addition of a dribble of honey.  Difficult to do that with a handful of antibiotics pills or capsules of chemical vitamins.

Honeybees are social insects and live in colonies. Each colony is a family unit, comprising a single egg-laying female or queen and her many sterile daughters called workers. The workers cooperate in the food-gathering, nest building and rearing the offspring. Males are reared only at the time of the year when their presence is required. (Bees of the World).  Now that is a splendid idea! Why didn’t we, humans, think of that? Like: Hey! Mate! Nice to see you! Your services are needed badly; we are a bit shorthanded around here. Can you oblige? Yeah? Great. Let me put my stripy gown on. OK. The earth did not shake for me but buddy you have done your job and off you go. Thanks a bunch Honey!..Your funeral is at 5pm. Mind you the poor queen must be bored to death spending her short life endlessly producing eggs. But producing she must: it takes honeybees ten millions foraging trips to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey.

Combined with another miracle of nature, cinnamon, honey becomes a powerful healing agent for all sorts of complains. It can be used without any side effects and although sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in , gave a few years ago a list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by Western scientists.

When reaching an age far too certain the major worry is that the pump is going to break down. We all get paranoiac about our heart with good reasons. Without it there is no hope. The brain has very little to do with longevity. I have known many brain-dead people throughout my life and they are still walking about in their old age, stripping the pants off the surrounding company by spreading the most boring comments, anecdotes, photographs of their grandchildren in New-Zealand or and the funny habits of their pet rabbits.

For your heart well-being mix a paste of honey and cinnamon and spread it on toast as opposed to butter and industrial jam. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries. If the cholesterol level is reaching dizzy heights then mix two tablespoons of honey with three teaspoons of cinnamon powder and dilute in a large glass of warm water. Take that three times a day. It can reduce the level of cholesterol by 10% in two hours. It does not look very appetizing but it tastes very nice. Let’s face it a mug of milky tea in which a little mouse with a tail (a tea bag) is dunked a few times, squeezed against the mug and finally lifted by the tail on its way to the bin looks equally disgusting and with its caffeine and tannin contents is a menace to the system.

If, like me, you are plagued with arthritis then take a cup of hot water with two tablespoons of honey and a small teaspoon of cinnamon. Morning and night. The University of Copenhagen has carried research on patients suffering from arthritis. The doctors found that out of two hundred patients seventy three were relieved of pain after one week. After a month the whole contingent was playing football. Well not quite but still…

Going for a curry or any other heavy meal with your neighbours who just got a new barbecue and are dying to turn some battery chicken pieces and industrial sausages into carcinogen offerings? Sprinkle a little cinnamon on two tablespoons of honey and swallow that before you get to the site of the slaughter. It will relieve acidity and digests the most appalling heavy meal.

Feeling tired? Scientists have found that half a teaspoon of honey sprinkled with cinnamon stirred in a glass of cold water and taken at about 3pm when the vitality of the body starts to decrease will improve your performance within a week. Whatever you do at that time of the afternoon. My trademark is to collapse on the sofa with a good book. A few minutes later I have read the same paragraph ten times. My glasses are askew on my nose and my book is a tent over the whole thing. Never mind. The honey and cinnamon are good for basically everything and even if my body is not revitalised at least the mixture will be good for any of the multiple ailments that old age has blessed me with.  

And finally: some tribes in South America gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water. It keeps their breath sweet and fresh throughout the day. Gargling is a tricky business, an acquired skill and having tried it for many years I decided that the risk of suffocation was not worth the possible beneficial results. So I chew a leaf of mint or a sprig of parsley instead. It beats the chemical liquid from the pharmaceutical giants any time.

The whole fabric of honey bee society depends on communication- on an innate ability to send and receive messages, to encode and decode information. (The Honey Bee)

Thanks a lot honey bunches for your hard work, your intelligence and your help.

Jocelyne