The Uni Adventures: Raymond the house plant.

I don't know what it was that made me pick him up that afternoon shopping in Sainsburys... Maybe it was the way he was sat all alone on a shelf with a 50p label hanging from his stem. Or was it because of his vibrant green leaves and bright red cluster of flowers? ...Perhaps it was because a plant seems to make a house a home...

Whatever it was, when buying the week's food shopping with Laura that first month in September, something inspired me to reach for the little plant and take it home.

When we arrived back in the kitchen I reached into the carrier bag and pulled it out, presenting it to the others with a grand flourish and a flick of my tail.

"Tadaaaaa!" I grinned, plonking it on the table.

"What's that?" Ace frowned, poking at it with his paw.

"A plant! It livens up the place, don't you think?" I said, tilting my head.

 "It's pretty!"Lisa nodded in agreement.

Andy leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows. "Should we name it?"

This inspired a whirlwind of ideas, and we conspired for a good ten minutes before somehow resulting at the sparkling, blossoming, heroic title of:

RAYMOND!

"Raymond." I nodded, "Yup. I like that. 'Ray' for short. That sounds pretty cool, huh?"

"Just needs some sunglasses and he's set" Al grinned from his perch on the kitchen counter.

And there Ray the houseplant came into our odd little group! Over time his leaves drooped and crisped, Andy accidentally kicked him across the kitchen, Ace knocked him off the microwave, and Ray looked started to look very sorry for himself. The others shook their heads and doubted he would make it through the Christmas holiday, especially after we smothered him in fake snow, wound tinsel around him, and sat him in a paper Christmas hat twice his size.

But we returned from our break over December to find him flourishing beautifully! His plant pot became a storing unit, and whenever somebody had something that they wanted to share, they gave it to Ray. By the time summer hit, he had acquired a 5p coin, a flapjack, a pen lid, a piece of crossword and a Japanese bottle cap.

Still going strong, Ray has soldiered through the hard times of life and set an example for us all: It doesn't matter if you're kicked about a bit, you just need to wrap some tinsel around yourself, sit in some sunlight for 2-3 weeks and before y'know it, you'll blossom!