Help!!

Help, I now have 47 baby mint plants... I can't support that many children- I'm going to have to put some of them up for adoption... Anyone willing to take a baby or two off my hands?

They are very well behaved and just sit in the corner without making a noise and only require a drink of water occasionally. Once they are a little bigger, I will be looking for suitable homes and parents for my precious babies.

Microbiology

I've just finished my pre-lab that is due in a couple of hours at my microbiology practical. Today we are playing with bacteriphages. They are such interesting little things that I thought I might share them with you. They are not considered to be alive because they can't reproduce without a host, but they do have their own DNA. They are too small to be seen with conventional light microscopes, but can be seen with electron microscopes. They resemble a science fiction creation (check out the micrograph) which injects its DNA into a bacterial cell. The bacteriophage hijacks the cell and uses it to make copies of itself and then breaks out through the cell wall- killing the bacteria. Research is being done in using them in medicine rather than antibiotics, and so far it looks pretty promising. The only problem with them is that to culture them in the lab we have to extract them from sewage : (

Micrograph of a bacteriophage

The Cemetery

Now if you thought that my love of plants was sad, you are going to think that this is tragic- but I did warn you that my life is full of randomness and chaos.

Today I only had one lecture - at 8:00 this morning. When I got home I didn't feel much like doing my assignments (does any one ever?) so a friend and I randomly went to explore the cemetery about 5 minutes drive away. We had been to the cemetery once before, but didn't have much time so we decided we wanted to go back and check it out again- and hopefully find the grave of my friends grandfather. The cemetery is old, and very large so it took us a few hours to walk through it all. We were intrigued by some of the graves with shrines, and the old graves. Unexpectedly, we came across a crypt with a stone moved so we could see inside. Curiosity took over and we had to look inside. Here are the photos.

See the fallen sandstone block in the bottom of the photo

Close-up of the gap between the sandstone blocks

Flash photo of the insideof the crypt- the bright structure in the fore-ground in a piece of grass. Apart from the small amount of litter on the floor, the only visible object in the crypt is the "seat" against the back wall. We assume that the actual coffin was placed under the floor of the crypt.

Although, some people might think that spending a day in a grave yard is a little strange we really did enjoy it. We didn't find the grave we were looking for, but my friend is going to ask his dad where it was and we will go back. Even if you do think we are weird you have to admit that some of the statues in the grave yard are beautiful - sad, but beautiful.





Please note that I did eventually do my assignments that afternoon- in case you were worried about my academic career

My Babies

I'm very excited because during the course of today 3 new babies have arrived.
Let me explain.
I am not able to have pets because I'm renting so instead I have plants...lots and lots of plants. I also have a tank of fish, but they don't require much care so I needed some other living things to care for. I have two indoor plants, but my pride and joy is my tiny patch of garden outside. When I moved in to the flat about six months ago it was a patch of weeds, but now it is a garden. My dad turned over all the soil one day when he and Mum came down for a visit (thanks Dad) and then I covered it in weedmat and woodchips. It stayed with nothing in it for a while until I found the time to put some bulbs in. I planted most of the bulbs in pots so it will be easy to take them with me when I move. I also put in some cuttings of lavender and another plant (Mum said it would grow from cuttings, but I don't know what it is). My daffodils have flowered beautifully, and my freesias will be out in a few days. Apart from watering, though, my garden, like my fish, does not require very much care and attention so I had to find something else. I decided to cultivate seedlings of parsley and mint from seeds to plant in a pot with some chives so I have some herbs over summer. I was expecting to have to wait about 3 weeks to see seedlings come up in the tray of soil on my window sill, but within 5 days I found that I had tiny little mint seedlings. During the course of today 3 more seedlings bravely pushed through the soil into the sunlight and began the process of de-etiolation. I now have 10 seedlings, and I am extremely proud of them (quite sad isn't it, but I am studying biology after all).

I haven't taken any photos of my little babies yet, but I will leave you with some photos of my garden.

Enjoy!

Hello world

Hello World!

I have created this blog to share the randomness and chaos that is my world. I am a uni student caught in the build up to exams, and I needed somewhere to vent all my frustrations and express my feelings. I am currently undecided whether or not to tell my family and friends about the blog or to just keep it anonymous. Either way I hope you enjoy sharing the randomness and chaos of my life.