Have you noticed that recently everyone seems to be ready to get their hands dirty? Everyone is getting into gardening - from the very young (some of the projects we fund through my work are gardening projects for Scout and Guide groups) to people in theior early twenties. We all know the older generation (our mums, mostly) love gardening but it's great to see the younger generation raving about home grown foods, helping out on friend's allotments etc.

At the Horniman Museum, they have a great little community garden with planters made out of all sorts of things from wellies, to raincoats (1) and gardening gloves. They have built a 'bug hotel' (2) out of wooden crates, bottles and plants to give all the bugs something to hide in. England's plentiful rainfall is captured in a water butt (3) and they even have a little pond made out of an old bathtub. It's great for kids to go and see things growing and learn to appreciate nature as soon as possible, in my opinion, and I love how inventive people can be in a small space, in central London, where there often isn't much green space to grow things.

As for me, I would LOVE to have a little garden of my own (this is how I know I'm getting old!), the dog would like a bigger garden to run around in, but one thing at a time. I need to move house first. Meanwhile I'm making do with a window sill on which I'm growing sage, rosemary, chilli plants and pak choi (I think it's pak choi - I 'll let you know when it stops looking like generic seedling). Also my orchid seems to be budding with absolutely no help from me. I'm not the most green fingered of people when it comes to flowering plants!

If you have an idea for a place to grow food, and need some cash to get you started, you could apply for some Capital Growth funding from the Mayor. It's what the Castle Climbing Centre (where I climb) used to get its own amazing vegetable garden up and running. Now the Castle's cafe uses own-grown food to serve to us climbers; fresh, handpicked food, no pesticides and no carbon emissions used for delivery.

On a sad and totally unrelated note, the elephants have now gone from their spots aroind London, however, they have been herded together in the grounds of Royal Chelsea Hospital where you can view the whole herd on the official viewing days from 25th to 28th June, 10am to 7pm. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information download the pdf here. If you can afford to buy one, the auction is on 30th June!

Throughout London between May and July 2010 are 250 beautiful, individually designed elephants. Similar to the Cow Parade back in 2002 (but much cuter) the Elephant Parade aims to raise the plight of the endangered Asian elephant. You can even buy them at an auction if you spot one you particularly like - and have loadsamoney. If you're not rolling in it you can buy a miniature version from the Elephant Parade webshop but be quick as they have limited amounts. A side benefit is that the elephants are getting people talking and making them stop, look around and enjoy their surroundings more than they would normally do!

Those thoughtful types at Elephant Parade have even provided a route map to help you. How many can you find?

...not for me, for this rarely updated blog. I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, if it looks better, I'll update it more. Even if it's only a mini-post about something that made me smile.

We'll see.

Had a period of minor but impactful disasters over the last week or so. Mostly caused by the dog it seems. Apart from eating three quarters of a bag of strawberry flavoured jelly sweets (and then trumpeting in my car and it smelling of a mixture of guff and strawberries) she also ate 250g of frozen mince that was meant for dinner. After that it made its presence felt in a rather runny mess on my kitchen floor. Let's not forget she also tripped me up, causing scabby and bruised knees and a full on face-plant onto the pavement. Thanks Tess.

Oh, I also managed to cause some damage all by myself. After coming home from a great concert with friends, I took a running jump onto my (wooden framed) bed. CRACK! Yep, I broke the bed. Nothing a big bit of superglue won't fix, I'm sure.

Yesterday I found out I don't really like cheese fondue anymore, which is a shame as it was my staple diet for a good few months. I guess you can have too much of a good thing, just like when I went off the colour brown. Probably a blessing in disguise for me and everyone around me, that one.

This morning I picked up my make-up bag from the kitchen but managed to lose it before reaching the bedroom. I looked everywhere, every room, the bins, under the bed, even in the fridge (I have found a good many misplaced items in there before now). I gave up and went to feed the dog and then finally found it in the cutlery drawer.

This kind of clumsy, forgetful behaviour is just typical of a stressed me. Later this year we find out whether our company (and our jobs) get renewed for another five years, or whether we will all be unemployed come 31st March 2011. The thing is, I am the one leading the campaign. The buck basically stops here. So, six people's jobs, no pressure love. I have done it lots before, I can do it again. Wish me luck, people!