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More failure...
Aug. 23rd, 2009 10:24 pmMy standard marguerite is now dead. Today I chopped up the dry, brown husk it had become and took it down to my parents' house to be disposed of with their garden waste. I think I must have over watered it. I just can't win. Killing something by caring for it <i>too</i> much is very annoying.
The sunflower is also dying but that was to be expected as it's pretty much a bedding plant and all it's buds have now flowered and gone over.
Now my orchid is dying too. I'm not sure what the problem is with that one. Maybe it's been too hot for it in the flat this past week or so. All the flowers have curled up and died and now the stemp is going brown. It says on the label that it should ' flower each year if well looked after'. I get the feeling it probably isn't going to make it that far.
My mum always tells me that gardening (or balcony potting in my case) is fraught with the constant possibility of failure. I'm determined to keep trying though. I'll be buying some new plants for the winter. I fancy getting some winter pansies and some of those red Christmas berries (no, not holly I know what that's called!)
In better news, there were a few more medals for team GB & NI on the final day of the athletics. A silver for Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m and a silver for the men's 4 x 400m relay team. The women's 1500m turned rather nasty when the Spanish athlete in second position decided to push the Ethiopian who was leading the race out of her way. The Ethiopian fell over and was effectively knocked out of contention. Lisa Dobriskey was lucky that she was running on the outside of the group when the athlete fell or else she may have fallen also. The crowd was really hostile towards the 'winner' after the race and she ended up being disqualified. This was good news for team GB & NI as it meant Dobriskey was promoted from bronze to silver. It was, however, unfortunate that the race ended in that way. Dobriskey and the other runners had nothing to do with the incident yet they had to put up with the crowd booing at the end of the race which was such a contrast to the way other gold medalists had been received. I'm sure they all would have preferred it to end fairly.
The men's 4 x 400m was conducted in a much more sportsman like fashion. After our women's 4 x 400m team had finished in 4th place (and way off the pace) a few minutes before, I was a bit worried about how the men's race was going to pan out. It certainly looked like the women were let down by bad team tactics (it didn't look like the athletes had been placed on the most appropriate legs) and poor race organisation (our 3rd runner was placed in completely the wrong position for the third changeover) rather than poor performace. In the men's race team USA won by a long way but team GB & NI worked hard to hang on to the silver medal position. Our anchor man scrapped with the Australian athlete throughout the final leg but he held on in the end. Australia really deserved the bronze medal.
Mo Farrah was 7th in the 5000m. He was very disappointed. I hope he keeps on running though. He's by far the best male distance runner in the UK and Europe. I really think that our team managers should be looking at young British African athletes as potential hopes for 2012. It's plain to see that African athletes excel at distance events. There are loads of young Africans living in the UK now and they seem to be an untapped resource. Mo is the only one who has made any kind of impact.
Go team GB & NI! I thoroughly enjoyed the last week of athletics. A brilliant championship performance by a young team which bodes well for London 2012. I so need to get tickets for at least one day of the athletics competition.
The sunflower is also dying but that was to be expected as it's pretty much a bedding plant and all it's buds have now flowered and gone over.
Now my orchid is dying too. I'm not sure what the problem is with that one. Maybe it's been too hot for it in the flat this past week or so. All the flowers have curled up and died and now the stemp is going brown. It says on the label that it should ' flower each year if well looked after'. I get the feeling it probably isn't going to make it that far.
My mum always tells me that gardening (or balcony potting in my case) is fraught with the constant possibility of failure. I'm determined to keep trying though. I'll be buying some new plants for the winter. I fancy getting some winter pansies and some of those red Christmas berries (no, not holly I know what that's called!)
In better news, there were a few more medals for team GB & NI on the final day of the athletics. A silver for Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m and a silver for the men's 4 x 400m relay team. The women's 1500m turned rather nasty when the Spanish athlete in second position decided to push the Ethiopian who was leading the race out of her way. The Ethiopian fell over and was effectively knocked out of contention. Lisa Dobriskey was lucky that she was running on the outside of the group when the athlete fell or else she may have fallen also. The crowd was really hostile towards the 'winner' after the race and she ended up being disqualified. This was good news for team GB & NI as it meant Dobriskey was promoted from bronze to silver. It was, however, unfortunate that the race ended in that way. Dobriskey and the other runners had nothing to do with the incident yet they had to put up with the crowd booing at the end of the race which was such a contrast to the way other gold medalists had been received. I'm sure they all would have preferred it to end fairly.
The men's 4 x 400m was conducted in a much more sportsman like fashion. After our women's 4 x 400m team had finished in 4th place (and way off the pace) a few minutes before, I was a bit worried about how the men's race was going to pan out. It certainly looked like the women were let down by bad team tactics (it didn't look like the athletes had been placed on the most appropriate legs) and poor race organisation (our 3rd runner was placed in completely the wrong position for the third changeover) rather than poor performace. In the men's race team USA won by a long way but team GB & NI worked hard to hang on to the silver medal position. Our anchor man scrapped with the Australian athlete throughout the final leg but he held on in the end. Australia really deserved the bronze medal.
Mo Farrah was 7th in the 5000m. He was very disappointed. I hope he keeps on running though. He's by far the best male distance runner in the UK and Europe. I really think that our team managers should be looking at young British African athletes as potential hopes for 2012. It's plain to see that African athletes excel at distance events. There are loads of young Africans living in the UK now and they seem to be an untapped resource. Mo is the only one who has made any kind of impact.
Go team GB & NI! I thoroughly enjoyed the last week of athletics. A brilliant championship performance by a young team which bodes well for London 2012. I so need to get tickets for at least one day of the athletics competition.
