September Phil

It looks like we have seen the end of our late summer.  It took a while to get started but it still lasted very well for a British one.  Claire and I have still been sharing our trips to Melton to see Mum so we can go twice as often.  Claire goes once a week and so do I but not together.  Unusually, twice this month I have taken Georgina with me as she has been back for a short time but I always forget to get photo’s of her.  The first time we went over Mum had cooked Rouladen, a German dish made from thinly sliced steak stuffed with goodies inside.  I haven't had this for years and asked Mum for a recipe on my previous visit.  This must have been enough for her to make it the first time Georgina came with me.  I really must have a go at making this for myself.  Anyway, after lunch Mum asked if we could go and see my Aunt Phyllis in Lincolnshire.  My Mums brother Derek died a few years ago and Phyl is also on her own but when Mum rang her she had her son Neil down with his son for a few days.  Neil has done well as an accountant and managed to get very early retirement last year.  However, he has agreed to act as a consultant for two days a month for a London company.  Its the first time I have seen either of his kids since they were kids.  I even forgot to get my camera out until we were leaving and therefore only managed a quick snap of the pair of them rather than including others from our group.

Also late last month, I had a small breakthrough regarding the alleged fraud by Daphne’s FA.  I had spoken to my MP when trying to arrange a meeting with him but after explaining to him the outline of my problems he asked me to email him directly with this outline, which he forwarded onto the Chief constable of MK asking for immediate action.  I was messed around a little at first being told that it would be handled in MK and having a meeting with a PC there last month.  Once she realized it was too much for her she tried to get their finance department involved at first but then they decided to palm it off to the Suffolk police  as the alleged crime was committed there.  Since Daphne has died nobody now lives in Suffolk so it seemed like a strange decision to me but I guess that this potato was very hot.    Once Suffolk police caught it they tossed it onto Kent police who in turn tossed it onto Maidstone police who had nobody else they could throw it onto.  The guy that caught it was Detective Sergeant Jason Bourne.  I spoke to him several times before he asked me to write a brief history of the case so he could choose which of his detectives would be best suited to handle this case.  I did this and it wasn't long before I was speaking to his finest detective Wesley Snipes.  I met with “Wes” early in the month and spent a long time with him at his police station.  I initially fed the parking meter with enough money for 4 hours but had to nip out and feed it with another three hours worth of cash.  I got on well with Wes who I believe to be a good detective but his financial knowledge was a bit lacking.  Anyway, he had a chat with his sergeant Jason and they decided that the best chance they would have of catching him would be to arrest him for questioning.  Anyway, they will be a while making investigations before this happens but it will all depend on what he says in his defense.  At least I have the best guys on the case.  The photo is of all the bags of folders that I took down with me.

As the weather, until recently has been good for a while, it has given us plenty of chance to get to the caravan at weekends.  I have a list on my i-phone of good restaurants to try and we managed to tick another one off the list this month.  We tried the Red Lion at Denton; not too far away from Olney.  Very nice, and reasonably priced.  We sat inside for our meal and then outside to finish our drink off.  It was a nice day and they have a large canvas cover over many tables to admire the views across the green. 

There was also a very large dragonfly with a grumpy looking face, admiring the same views as us and possibly looking for leftovers.

 

I can never resist this sky view from outside our club house.  I seem to take one every time we go there.  It must be all the small planes flying in and out of Sywell that cause all the vapor trails that turn into clouds in regular patterns; especially at sunset.

 

The good weather also brings the ducks and geese out in Giffard Park.  It must be something about the trees there that encourage them.  I have to walk past them on my way to and from work each day.  Also the kids started back to school this month so I have to walk past them as well.

 

It was also Jim’s birthday this month.  Happy Birthday Jimmy!  Oops, kill the apostrophe.  I like it when Jim has his birthday because he becomes as old as me again.  We went down the Giffard Park with Jim and Shirley, Harriet and Billy to celebrate.  Jim and I went to see Rush on the day of his Birthday; what a great film.

 

We also saw John and Marie over for a weekend at Overstone as they travel out to LaManga this month.  They left on 23rd september for 6 months.  Just as our weather has turned, they move to warmer pastures.  Its 30 degrees C out there at the moment while we are all testing our heating systems.

 

We had a good night at the clubhouse with a band playing 60s and 70s music and Sue came over as well.  We all had quite a bit to drink except for Marie.  Claire started them off as usual, but they even managed to get the fat old git on the dance floor so it must have been a good night.

 

That reminds me, I had my annual diabetes check ups this month and my blood sugar is quite high for me.  My eyes and feet are ok but my sugar and kidney functions and both high.  I need a special diet for a while.  I have been trying a bit but its slow going.  Im only eating a salad and fruit at work and sometimes eat my special soya bean curry that I have been cooking on a Friday if I get chance.  Trouble is you have to soak the beans overnight then boil them for 3 hours before using them in a curry.  Its all very time consuming.  I found out that a couple of blokes at work have been on a diet called “Eat out and loose weight”.  It sounds like it should suit me quite well, especially as it does it by lowering your sugar intake.  I might be able to kill two birds with one stone.  In fact both these guys have lost over two stone.  More about that next month if I decide to take it on.

 

We went back to the van the following weekend with Mum because we had tickets for the Bavarian night.  They had an ump-a band on with food.  Sue came over again for the night and we had another good night with both of them ending up on the stage for some reason.

 

 Even Mum got up for a bit of supported line dancing.  I forgot my camera so had to take pictures on my very well used i-phone.  The camera is not so good at night.

 It was a really good night because the landlord and bar staff all dressed up for the occasion.  The only thing bad about it was the food.  We thought as they were serving food, it would start between 7 and 8pm rather than the usual 9pm.  Wrong.  It started at 9pm and the food dint come out until 10pm.  We had a late night not leaving until about midnight.

I am still enjoying work but can start to see the end of my wonderful project.  Not sure if they have any more work for me to do after I finish it next month we will have to wait and see.  Anyway, I have started to get itchy feet and booked two more holidays.  We have a long weekend in Prague in November and a couple of weeks in the Canary islands in December.  We don't normally like cities but we had such a great time in Prague last time I felt it worth trying it again.  It should fit in with work if Im still there because i only work 3 days and can work around our long weekend which is great.  I need to keep my eyes open for more like this.

Caravan Carry On

Once again I’ve lost the impedance or is that the inclination to blog? Or is it that I have naff all to tell the world??  Maybe even worse still, is it that I have writers block?  To be honest I think it is all of the above.  I am boring the arse off myself, blogging and indeed writing is meant to be good for the reader (and the writer for that matter) if it comes easy, and for me at the moment, it isn’t.  It is forced and I have decided that I am going to try and limp through to the end of year. Why the end of year, well I like tidy endings and then Phil must take over the naked bloggers and claim it for his own. Maybe we should swap roles and I will do a once-a-month instead of him?   

Of course, Phil may well decide to end the end of the era and give up as well, but he always has so much to say and his travel blogs take on their own importance and relevance and so who I am to knock him?? Indeed I don’t, I know first-hand how much he struggles with internet connections and photo downloads whilst away, and I for one, commend both his dedication to the blog overseas because it can be very time consuming. Unlike me, Phil is very committed to the blog; he may be well off the wall for my liking (sometimes) but he is the one that has kept this blog alive and kicking.

Last week turned out to be a bit of a medical one; I took Phil for his diabetes eye test at the Maple clinic at MKG.  It always rains when we go there each year and last Monday was no exception.  Except it was an exception this year because I spotted my 70 year old mother that I haven’t seen for over 20 years being wheeled by a helper (friend) in the same reception room as us.  I felt bad but I didn’t want any confrontation so I had to leave Phil to his eye dye (which isn’t very nice BTW) and went to wait in the car.  I had to pay the parking and luckily got back to the Maple Unit just as the friend and the mother were leaving.  I felt nothing but relief which I know must sound harsh but that’s just the way it is. No hard feelings, maybe just a little bit of regret that we can’t go back in time and put things right especially as by all accounts that she is at end of her life.

Luckily Phil’s eye diabetes test turned okay; I went back for another blood test on Tuesday and that too went okay.   I read on the internet that it was easier to have warm blood so I had a really hot shower on Tuesday morning (early) and I also drunk pints and pints of water beforehand.  I am glad to say it worked, the phlebotomist was brilliant, she used a small needle and got blood the first time on trying. God I was so relieved. I am such a wimp.

Forget Wednesday folks, a week away and I can’t remember what the devil I did.  It was obviously so unremarkable.  Thursday I do remember; I went to the health club then picked up Sue.  Her car had broken down in a big way on the M1, she managed to limp back to Newport and on Wednesday I followed her to the KIA garage in Wolverton then we drove to Overstone.  I didn’t have much to do at the caravan.  Change beds, hoover throughout, load fresh foods into both respective fridges then we were good to go.  I had to collect post for Phil from The Manor at Great Billing Garden centre; there was only 1 letter which was a bit disappointing especially as I was expecting some books from Amazon. 

Sue had I checked out the shoe shop, she got new ankle boots and then we had lunch in the café next door which was good.  Afterwards, we stopped off at Olney for a quick browse.  That was okay, bit depressing because everything was so expensive and we couldn’t afford anything.  Actually I say that, aside from the shoe shop, there was nothing that I actually liked enough to buy.  All in all a good day but confess I felt a little guilty with the DH hard at work.

On Friday it was gym for me, actually my 3^rd gym session of the week, followed by a Chinese take-away for one (shared with Phil) at the local Chinese takeaway on GP then Phil went to the medical centre at Newport for wee and blood tests,  another part of his annual diabetes tests.  I had to let him go by himself as Sue’s car had died and I picked her up and we drove to the caravan. Felt a bit de je vu as I had only been there the day before.  We had invited Sue over so she could see my step dad and Marie who had arrived at the caravan earlier that afternoon.  It was through John & Marie that we met Sue & Alan. The day before I had left the spare keys in the gas BBQ (sssshhhh don’t tell anyone). This was J & M’s last weekend in the UK as they go away this Saturday to spend 6 months in the caravan in La Mango.

What a shame that the weather was awful; we lit the chim chimmery outside, for the first time I might add since we brought it in 2007; we sat underneath the gazebo as the rain came down but we ended up having supper inside.  I felt a bit guilty because I’d only done a readymade lasagne, salad, garlic bread and some baked potatoes but I suppose it filled a whole.  After eating, we got ready and went to the clubhouse as we had tickets for the 50’s and 60’s night.  I was surprised because there weren’t many there although it did get a bit busier later in the evening.  The group were good but I was a bit disappointed with the music as I didn’t recognise many of the songs.  Still it didn’t stop me getting up and having a bop, in fact we all danced, even Phil!

It was 1am by the time we got to bed and nobody was rushing to get up and ready on Saturday morning.  Sue & I walked to the shop to get a paper and then Marie, Sue & I drove to Weston Favell to get a few supplies.  I dipped out of cooking and we had lunch at The Manor.  We managed to get the round table in the window which is my favourite.  Food was okay, cheap and cheerful but Marie & Sue had the carvery which they both said was nice.  Sue went home in the afternoon and the rest of us, well we just chilled. I mean chill literally, it was freezing in the vans.  Saturday evening was cheese rolls, more wine and a couple of games of cards.  We weren’t late which was just as well because I just can’t take the pace these days.

Sunday was a more subtle affair, Phil drove to Melton with Georgina to see mum and me and the steps went to CMK as Marie wanted some last minute shopping.  In hindsight, I should have taken them to Northampton as it would have been nearer but I just didn’t think.  We came back to Northamptonshire and had Sunday lunch at The Lamb near Sywell.  It was very busy and really I should have booked but luckily we got a table.  It was a foul day so a good old Sunday lunch was just what everyone needed.  We didn’t get back to the van until half 3, just time for a sleep in bed with my heated blanket.   Phil got back at half five and wanted to go to the club house but none of were keen.  Instead, I heated up a Mr Tesco Finest quiche and we had the one game of cards and then I threw the guests out at 9pm.  I quite like having quests at the van, but 2 nights is fine but 3 nights is just one to many.  It’s a shame, we have had a lovely summer and invited quite a few friends but there are still so many to invite, maybe next year, it’s definitely not as much fun when the sun don’t shine.

J & M headed for home just after 8am on Monday. I washed their bedding, tidied up, packed up and I guess we got back to the flat around half ten.  It was a miserable day and I didn’t feel like going anywhere.  We had left overs lunch and I basically spent most of the day, washing, drying and ironing. Fun – not really.  I made it to the gym on Tuesday but the rain and the grey made me feel really miserable.  I was in a real grot mood when I stopped by Sue’s for a cup of tea but then her mad friend Carol turned up and we ended up drinking wine at half four in the afternoon which meant my detox during the week went out the window. I didn’t care much, sometimes you do need to grab life by the ankles and not give a damn about the consequences.  The rain was lashing down and I did think about Phil and went to pick him up from work even though I was ten minutes late.

Today, Wednesday was a fairly productive one.  I had a really good run at the gym. I don’t know if I mentioned it but I have been suffering quite badly with sciatica but it did me good having 3 days off from the gym at the weekend.  It’s not 100% but it feels much better.  Sue came round for lunch, nothing fancy, salmon, mash, green beans and a bit of spinach.  Sue doesn’t get her car back until tomorrow; on Monday I swapped my car for Phil’s so at least she has had some wheels.  After lunch I had a bit of shopping to do and Sue came with.  Nothing amazing, Lidl’s, Wickes, B&M and lastly B&M’s.  I got all of my bits and for someone that didn’t want anything in particular, (her words not imine) Sue probably spent more than me!  She is definitely a girl that shops until she drops lol!

With this crap weather, I am definitely going into hibernation mode.  It’s coming and I can feel it in my bones.  Just wait until the clocks go back and I will turn into a stay-at-home, lock the doors type of girl and throw away the key.  I think in medical terms, it’s called ‘SAD Syndrome’.  And that folks just about sums me up.

                 

Tired, old bones

Last week was a busy one, not that I minded, it was good to have a project.  The project being the little bungalow at Cranfield which had to be sorted as the new tenant moved out on Tuesday and the new tenant moved in on Monday which only really gave me a few days.  Sue offered to help me so after making sandwiches and packing up the car, I picked her up and we got to the flat around 1pm.  I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I’d only redecorated 12 months ago so I didn’t expect the flat to be too bad.  How wrong was I, it wasn’t really bad, I have experienced much worse but on close inspection, lots of the walls were scuffed, the sofa was knackered, the flat was filthy dirty and lots of stuff was missing.  It never fails to amaze what shit people live in and how lazy people can be. It made me feel quite depressed and I wasn’t too sure where to start so it was a good job that Sue was with me because she had to project manage.

We decided to start in the kitchen with the paint tray; Sue cut in whilst I rollered.  We hadn’t been there long when mad Betty (aka Emily) appeared in the doorway.  She decided to weed my borders, revive my hanging basket and killed a wasp’s nest in my drain.  She does drive me nuts but she does have her uses.  Actually, I shouldn’t be so mean; she is harmless enough and is probably very lonely.  Together we all made good progress and by the afternoon, we’d painted the kitchen, hallway and bathroom.  I even had time to make a start in the lounge, although this was a touch up job rather than paint the room in its entirety.  I took the towels, the remainder of what was left of the bedding and the shower curtain home with me to wash.

I was tempted to go and get on with the flat early on Wednesday morning but Sue had an appointment on Wednesday morning from 10am until 12pm and I also had an appointment at the doctors at 11.15am so it seemed pointless to drive to Cranfield and then have to come back to MK and then go back again so I decided not to go to the flat until after lunch.  Instead I went to the gym for a quick work out then popped into Asda and got a couple of bits for the flat. The quilt and pillows were missing from the flat so these needed to be replaced.  Luckily I had a spare king sized quilt in my airing cupboard and also some bedding that I had ear marked for the caravan but I did have to buy pillows, a toilet brush and a couple of other bits and pieces.

After this I went to the doctors to get my blood test done.  And what a nightmare this turned out to be.  I don’t particularly enjoy having blood taken mainly because I have very small veins and have had trouble in the past.  My appointment was with the nurse and she was crap.  She tried 5 times to get blood, twice in each arm and once in my hand.  She managed to get in every time but once in, my veins collapsed so she couldn’t get any blood.  I said enough is enough after the attempt in my hand and had to book another appointment.  Not only did the nurse hurt me but I felt a little sick afterwards.  I guess the sight of all those needles.

I picked up Sue after the doctors and we went over to Cranfield.  Sue cleaned the bathroom and all of the windows inside and out whilst I painted the lounge and touched up various walls in the bedroom.  We made up the bed, cleaned the kitchen, put the furniture back and hoovered all round.   Sue & I tried to get the knackered sofa out of the lounge but we got stuck in the lounge door way so we had no choice but to give up.  I had scheduled the whole of the week to do the flat but with Sue’s help we managed to get it finished at the end of play on Wednesday.  I had to laugh because we were just packing up our stuff when the professional cleaners, sent by the agent, turned up.  Too late girls.  They were happy because it was quite hot and one of the cleaners was going on holiday the following day.  At least if you clean yourself, you know it’s been done properly.  I know, I am so anal.

It was supper at Sue’s followed by Ceroc dancing with Jan at Woughton on Wednesday evening.  It was a hot and sweaty night and I have decided that Ceroc is not for me. I am too much of a freestyle kind-of-girl plus it doesn’t help than I am absolutely useless at it.  I went and I tried but I don’t think I am going to go back.  It didn’t help that Brian (Sue’s ex) turned up and has signed up for a course of Ceroc.  Of course it is a free country but it kind of freaked me out and not in a good way.

Sue and I had planned to paint her son’s fence panels this week but as we finished the Cranfield flat in 2 days and the weather forecast was hot, we decided to do the fence panels last  Thursday.  Armed with 15 litres of paint, sandwiches, dust sheets and other decorating paraphernalia, I guess we got to Matt’s house just before 10 am.  We had the first coat of creosote on the panels by lunchtime but they were so dry, they needed a second coat.  Sue did this whilst I started on the play house.  This was a right pain in the neck and Sue & I ended up giving it about 4 coats.  It was so hot and we were knackered after 6 hours flat out of painting.  Still we got it all finished and it was a job well done.

Friday was furniture removal day.  Phil said get the man with the van on the job but Sue offered her car, so to save money and hassle we decided to do it ourselves. Sue turned up in her 4 x 4 just before 10am and Phil and I got the 2 seater leather sofa out of the flat and down the stairs.   It nearly killed us and I regretted not hiring help. I had forgotten just how heavy reclining sofas are.  With Sue’s help we got it in her car. Phil went with Sue to the flat and I drove in my car.

The first job was to get the old knackered sofa out of the flat which turned out not to be straight forward.  Is anything in my life???   We tried several times and in the end we took off the feet, which is perhaps what we should have done in the first place. I wished I had of taken a video of the whole saga because it was quite comical.  At one point I said to Phil I don’t remember it being difficult to get this sofa INTO the flat but then we realised that since then, we have completed revamped the kitchen.  Eventually with mad Betty’s help, we squeezed the old sofa out and managed to squeeze it into Sue’s car, although only just.  It wasn’t too difficult to get the reclining sofa into the flat because the back came off.  The last job was to sort out the television and 2 hours later we were finished. Phil went with Sue back to Newport, stopping off at the tip to dump the old sofa, leaving me to sort out the electric.  Another long story and I thought I would have to go to Bedford to get a new EDF key but I tried the co-op at Marston Mortaine and was able to get a new key and credit.

The flat looked quite bare without the 2 seater sofa so after lunch we decided to drive to the caravan to pick up the 1 seated reclining chair, we had to collect post from The Manor so it made sense to kill two birds with one stone.  Not sure if that is an old saying or whether I am making it up.  It wasn’t difficult to the get one seater sofa out of the van and into the Peugeot but not so easy getting it up our stairs and into the flat.  I tell you blood, sweat and tears were shed on Friday but at the end of the day it was mission accomplished.  Not without pain I might add, Phil, Sue and me now are suffering with bad backs.

It was my turn to go to Melton to visit mum and I was on the road just after half seven on Saturday morning.  I figured it was going to be less traffic (certainly less lorries) with it being a Saturday and it was a smooth ride until I got to junction 15.  There had been an accident and there were flashing signs warning that traffic was queuing from junction 15 and then another flashing sign to say that the motorway was closed between 15a and junction 16.  With no sat nav, no mobile and not much petrol I decided to get off at junction 15 and drive to Melton via Overstone.  I eventually arrived at Melton some 2 hours later.

Mum was ready and waiting for me, she had arranged for me to take her to see 2 of her friends in the morning so there was just time for me to have a wee, gulp a cup of tea before we were out of the door.  Talk about no rest for the wicked. First stop was Tesco so Bet could buy a couple of plants for her friends and for me to buy some petrol.  The first friends we went to see was a couple called Eve and Stan.  I had never met them before but they were very welcoming.  Poor Eve is awaiting a hip operation, she could hardly walk and it was obvious she was in pain.  And her husband Stan was as deaf as a door post which made conversation both difficult and interesting!

Our second stop was a visit to mum’s friends Phoebe (love that name) and Charlie.  It was Phoebe’s 90^th birthday so mum wanted to take her a plant and a card.  Charlie didn’t seem to be too bad, a bit tottery but he had all his faculties, but Phoebe, bless her was very unstable on her feet and kept repeating herself.  I’m guessing that would be a bit of dementia; Phoebe was also a little blind and a little bit deaf.  We didn’t stay too long as they were expecting family.  I guess we stayed for half an hour and that for me was long enough.  God, I really don’t want to get old and decrepit.

It was midday by the time we got back to the bungalow and lunch was a little late.  Phil’s mum did fish which I didn’t really enjoy.  She baked it in the oven and I am not sure if it was cooked plus it was really bony.  I ate as much as I could.  In the afternoon we watched Celebrity Big Brother and I left Melton just after 3pm.  Whilst I was at Melton Phil had gone to Maidstone to see a detective.  He had done quite a lot of preparation for his meeting, but naturally was a little nervous.  Unfortunately his appointment was not until 2.15pm.  The meeting went on almost 4 hours and it was 8pm by the time he got home.  Phil said the detective was nice and he felt he believed him but he didn’t have any financial knowledge.  And why should he?  Anyway, I will let Phil tell you the ins and outs as I don’t know too much.  What I do know, is that this is last chance saloon and if nothing comes as a result of this meeting, there is nowhere else to go.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day.  I did make it to the gym but that was as far as I ventured.  Phil wanted to watch the Italian Grand Prix live so I did the roast for when it finished.  Harriet came round for lunch as Billy was working.  A Sunday roast at home always seems like a good idea but I sometimes whether it’s worth it.  You go buy the stuff, it takes hours to cook, you eat it in 10 minutes and then it takes forever to clean up, even if you do have a dish washer.

This week thus far has been fairly quiet and a bit grey.  Summer has definitely gone, the kids are back at school and autumn is already upon us.  It was so cold in the flat yesterday; I put the boiler on and turned up the thermostat.  I even put on my woolly tights this morning.  How sad is that.  Winter is my worst season and I can definitely feel myself going into hibernation.  Summer is but a distant memory...............

Plant Growth

In way of apology for a lack of words in my August monthly report, I have decided to write one of my mid month specials.  For those of you that have been to our caravan, you will know that we had a conifer hedge planted 2 years ago to define our rear boundary.  Until about two or three months ago, these shrubs looked very much like they did the day that they were planted.  Everyone told me that they grow substantial root systems before switching to growth above ground.  I have recently been reading about plants as part of my research for my book.  I previously knew very little about plants and have never read a gardening book in my life.  I still haven't, what I researched was the anatomy and physiology of plants along with their evolution.  I decided to apply my new found knowledge to my hedge; here is the story.

Plants grow through photosynthesis where they collect energy from the sun and use this energy to convert carbon dioxide which they breath and water which they suck up through their roots and convert them to carbohydrates.  The move and store these products through channels around the plant called phloem.  The waste product for this process is oxygen.  If it wasn’t for the plants and the algae that preceded them, no multi-celled animals could exist.  Sometimes these carbohydrates are assembled into cellulose and starch and moved down to the roots through the phloem for storage, such as carrots and onions.  Sometimes they store it in tubers such as potatoes etc.

The formulae for this conversion is;

H₂O + CO₂ + energy -----> CH₂O + O₂

The formulae for a carbohydrate is, as its name suggests, water with a carbon in front of it.  However, the simplest carbohydrate, sugar requires at least 3 carbon atoms and therefore 3 water and carbon dioxide molecules as the ingredients for the conversion.  Most sugars that plants and animals manufacture for growth have 5 or 6 carbon atoms arranged in a circle.  Animals and plants also make fats and proteins but we shall ignore those here.  The vast majority of plant growth is by the manufacture of sugars.  You would think that the easiest way to make the CH₂O from the H₂O + CO₂ would be to take the C from the CO₂ adding it to the H₂O leaving the O₂ but things don't always happen the way you would imagine.  It turns out that the O₂ comes from two water molecules instead.  The actual process of photosynthesis is incredibly complicated and I don't believe that we fully understand it, otherwise we would be using it to make energy and food.

In the summer, you cut your grass and discard the cuttings.  this might be done twice a week when conditions are right (lots of sunshine and rain), so a substantial amount of material is removed from your lawn, year in year out.  Why doesn’t your lawn slowly sink down as material is removed?  If the mater for growth, is coming from the ground then this would happen.  As we have seen, the material of plants are made from carbon dioxide and water.  The carbon dioxide comes from the air and the water comes from the sky, very little material comes from the ground.  Some material does come from the ground but only a tiny amount for nutrients.  Inside every raindrop that has ever fell is a tiny piece of dust.  The water vapor needs something to nucleate around when forming a raindrop and mostly it is dust that provides this service.  All these dust particles from all the raindrops is easily enough material to replace the nutrients drawn into the plants.  Imagine that, all the material in a tree comes from the air, tons of it.  Thin air.

Unless an element converts into another element by radioactivity, the total quantity of each element remains the same whatever chemical reaction it is involved in.  There will always be the same amount of oxygen whether it is part of a water molecule or a carbon dioxide molecule, or indeed, a sugar molecule.  There is only a tiny percentage of carbon dioxide in air so the plant has to accumulate it constantly to be able to make its sugars for growth.  It does this by breathing the air in, removing the carbon dioxide, adding the oxygen and breathing it out again.  Of course a plant cannot respirate in the same way as animals would.  Plants have tiny holes, usually in the underside of their leaves, called stomata.  Although they are only tiny openings, they open up into, relatively huge caves in between the plant cells.  All of the carbon dioxide entering these stomata is removed from these caverns, creating a concentration gradient for carbon dioxide.  This concentration gradient causes a physical partial pressure that attracts more carbon dioxide into the stomata.  Of course, something has to go out to make more room for the carbon dioxide, this is the oxygen waste product.  The oxygen is pushed out by a similar concentration gradient between the inside and outside.  As the oxygen is released from the cells as waste, the concentration of oxygen becomes greater inside therefore causing a partial pressure and movement to the outside where the gradient is lower.  Oxygen and carbon dioxide are not the only gases that move through the stomata, water vapor does too.  Water evaporates around the cells, inside these stomata causing a higher concentration inside than outside, so there is a movement of water vapor to the outside as well.  This causes a negative water pressure inside the plant which sucks up more water from the roots.  Thin water channels called, Xylem also help to move water from the roots to the leaves ( by capillary action), where it is needed for the reactions to take place, but this provides no where near as much force that is required in all but the smallest of plants.  This only works if water that has fallen onto the leaves is evaporated to draw more up from the roots.  Nothing is gained if only water that has been drawn up is evaporated to draw more water up.  After all, every time it has ever rained, the leaves get wet as well as the ground where the roots are.  This would seem like a good time to evaporate the water from the leaves to draw more water up into the leaves.  Most mornings the leaves also get wet from condensation.

In all plants and animal cells, we have tiny organs called organelles in each of our cells.  One of these organelles is called a lysosome which is a membrane bound bubble that carries nutrients, waste and water around our cells.  Each plant cell has a huge lysosome that occupies almost all of the volume within the cell.  As plants don't have a physical structure like bones or shells, they get their rigidity by pumping water into these lysosomes causing a strong pressure that gives each cell its firm structure.  We call this turgidity.  As the cell pumps water into this lysosome it makes the cell turgid.  When flowers or plants don't have enough water they become limp and droop (flaccid), this is because they loose their turgidity.

Although a plant needs one water molecule for each carbon dioxide molecule for its reactions to make sugars, the plants actual requirement for water molecules is far greater in reality.  It needs some to pump into the lysosome to provide turgidity and some to evaporate to provide the pressure to draw more water up from its roots.  When new growth takes place, the cells divide and the new cells grow until they too can divide.  Each new cell needs lots of new water to fill its lysosome.  To get this water up to the new growth it must evaporate more to provide this pressure.  Until the plant has all the elements that it requires for new growth it will stay dormant only providing the water it has so sustain the cells it already has.  Only when it has more than it needs to sustain its current cells, will it initiate new growth.

As I said earlier, plants also make a small amount of proteins and they also make hydrocarbons (fats) for their membranes and other things.  Proteins require quite allot of nitrogen and the cell membranes require a small amount of phosphorus.  Lots of other elements are requires in minute quantities before they can initiate new growth.  Although about 78% of air is nitrogen, this is not normally available for plant or animal growth.  The nitrogen in air moves around in pairs of nitrogen atoms making nitrogen molecules that have three strong bonds joining them together.  Only a few bacteria are able to split these bonds and separate the nitrogen into single atoms as they are required by life for growth (nitrogen fixing).  Fertilizers provide the nitrogen and other elements required for growth in the form that can be used.

Getting back to my conifers.  I decided that they were not growing because they required nutrients to initiate new growth.  I bought some plant feed that has to be dissolved in a watering can and sprinkled over the plants.  This should be done once a week but I did it every day I was at the caravan.  I cant provide any carbon dioxide, but I can provide the water.  I set the sprinkler hose up so I could easily water them and watered the roots and the leaves several times a day.  I felt it particularly important to water the leaves because they need to evaporate water from the leaves to be able to draw new water up from the roots.  The results were amazing; the conifers shot up from the day I started my program.  New growth usually looks a much lighter colour than the old growth and all my plants got lighter and lighter.  My horticulturally knowledgable neighbor spotted me watering the leaves in the sunshine and told me not to, or it would scorch the plants.  He said that most gardening books would tell me this.  Good job I don't read the gardening books.

Lots of R & R and dining out.........

As co-blog authors, Phil and I are not working very well together; this month he has the photographs but not the words and I, never one for lack of verbal diarrhoea, had the words but was sadly lacking in the photograph department.  Phil has an excuse because he is working and we have no internet connection at the caravan but I have no excuse, I have now got me a decent camera, courtesy of gifting from Phil but still I forget to get the damn thing out of my handbag. I am just plain useless.

I am not sure where the week went last week and for one that doesn’t work, what I did with myself. It was certainly nothing of significance.  On Tuesday I took my car into Days Cars in Blakelands for an MOT and it failed.  Not spectacularly you understand but I needed a rear wheel bearing and 2 new front tyres and the bill came to £232.  I was very grateful of the courtesy car even though I didn’t enjoy driving it.

After dropping my car off at the garage, I went to Sue’s and scrounged a cup of tea.  The previous day Sue had gone to a friend to help her decorate her lounge and she said it was a nightmare.  Apparently when she got there, the lounge was not only full of furniture but also was filthy dirty and this so called friend hadn’t even cleared the room.  Poor Sue had to move stuff and sugar soap walls before she could even think about getting the paint brushes out. Sue was slightly overwhelmed by the project so I said I’d give her a hand for a couple of hours in the afternoon if I got my jobs done.

That’s what friends are for and I made sure I finished my jobs and got to the house in Stony Stratford for 2pm.  Sue was pleased to see me and I could see why.  The lounge was in a Victorian house with a big bay window, a fireplace and lots of nooks and crannies which meant lots of cutting in.  It wasn’t easy because we were working around a sofa, a chair, a telly and lots of other crap.  But together we managed to get 2 coats on the walls but I had to leave at half four to get back to the garage to get my car back. 

Wednesday passed me by it seems; I thought I had my CA125 blood test at midday but it turned out I got the wrong week.  Just another example of my brain fog.  I went to the gym in the afternoon then popped into Primark.  Sue picked me up and we had a lovely supper at her house but we were really pushed for time as we had to get to Woughon Leisure Centre for Ceroc dancing.  Jan couldn’t make it and we missed her but we still had a fun time.  Sue is sought after on the dance floor and very much enjoying it all but I am not sure about me.  Don’t get me wrong, it is good fun and I love to dance, the people are all friendly but I don’t remember one move from one week to the next.  I did get a couple of nice comments but it’s the same old same old, I don’t like to be lead and to be honest I can’t see a way to progress.  Perhaps I will be better this week.

On Thursday it was gym first thing and in the afternoon I went to Stony Stratford to help Sue for a couple of hours.  The friend whose house it was, said she thought the walls looked patchy and needed another coat; I’m not sure I agreed but I got stuck in and did coat number 3 whilst Sue got on with the glossing.  I wanted to be home for 5pm so Sue had to come away when I did as she had come in my car. 

Phil was off on Friday and he left the flat at 9 am, picked up Georgina from Roade and they went to spend the day with mum in Melton. I went to the gym and then came back to the flat to get stuff packed ready to take to the caravan.  I stopped off to collect the post from the manor and I guess it was about 3pm by the time I got to the park.  I unpacked and stripped the beds and got the washing machine going.  Luckily it was hot and sunny so I got it all dried on the washing line.  Phil didn’t get home until 6 pm, he was late because he didn’t leave Melton until 4pm and the traffic was heavy because it was Friday.  We walked down to the clubhouse for a couple of drinks but got back to the van in plenty of time to watch the Celebrity Big Brother eviction.  We certainly know how to live!

We mostly did nothing but slob out over the weekend.  Phil must have watered his hedge a dozen time, to be honest he has started to become a little obsessed with the hedge.  The diet went out the window and both days we had fried egg baps for breakfast.  On Saturday we tried out a pub recommended to us called The Red Lion at Denton.  Phil had the fish and chips and I went for the beef pie.  It wasn’t the best choice for me as I hate suet. The food wasn’t outstanding but it was okay.  In the evening we went down to the pool bar to check out the Caribbean evening but it didn’t really pan out as we had expected.  We hadn’t got tickets for the food but thought we would listen to the steel band.  However you couldn’t sit by the pool unless you’d brought your own chairs which of course we hadn’t.  Also the band didn’t start playing until after the food had been served.  It was also a little chilly so in the end we had a drink in the clubhouse then went back to the van.  It was certainly a loud evening because the steel band were playing at the same time as the group in the clubhouse.  Not good planning.

The plan was to stay at the caravan and come back early this morning but this isn’t what happened.  We drove to The Lamb for roast lamb and hadn’t been back long when Phil got a call from the police about the fraud case.  The detective that spoke to Phil needed Phil to email him some information.  I knew Phil wouldn’t be able to relax until he’d emailed the detective and as we can’t get the internet at the van we decided to pack up and go back to the flat.  We did consider leaving Phil’ car at the van and come back in the one car but in the end we drove back in both cars.  Another week ends and a new month begins.  I am not sure what September will bring; we have got a couple of social weekends planned at the caravan, a 60’s night with step-dad and partner and a Bavarian night with mum and Sue.  Phil has his annual diabetes checks and hopefully he will start to get some positive results from the police.  Some justice would be good.