All the most exciting stories like to end a chapter with a cliffhanger. And I’m no different.

We finished the first term at KLC on Tuesday with a one to one presentation of our planting plans for the Balham project to our client. We also had an assessment from Annie of the first stage of our Planting Combinations Project – which has to be completed over the holidays. And we had watercolour tuition and practice with Claire. So it was a big day.

The Planting Combinations project was set at the start of the term. It consists of ten different situations ranging from dry shade under trees, to an exposed site with heavy clay soil and extremes of temperature. For each of these we have to come up with a planting plan, draw an elevation (a drawing of how the planting would look if viewed at eye level) and a list of all the plants selected with descriptions, characteristics and specific requirements. We had to hand in the first four last Monday, with the other six to be completed over the holidays, and the whole project has to be handed in on the first day of term. Otherwise we don’t pass the diploma…….

Aaaaaaaaaarggghhhhhhh!

Because I’m going to be away for three weeks I’m panicking. Because these little blighters take a lot longer than you think they are going to. I thought I was ok. I had prepared the lists of plants for each situation over the course of the term, so that when we finished the Balham planting plan last week I could get going on the combinations. So I started working on them last Wednesday and worked pretty much full out until Sunday evening. By which time I had finished six plans, six elevations and two plant lists.

And not done anything else! While my sister Mary has been getting ready for our trek, trying on all the kit and writing some really funny posts about it (which you can read at twinseverest.wordpress.com) I haven’t even taken mine out of the carrier bags yet!

Yesterday I got my legs waxed, tidied the house and did my CAD homework (that’s computer aided drawing to the unititiated – which was me before this course started). In the evening I sat down to do one of the plant lists. And spent the whole time trying to find one of the lists I’d done at the weekend which in my brain dead state I must have failed to save. Because I looked and looked but it’s gone. So not only am I one list down. But I didn’t get to do the one I was going to do last night.

So the pressure is on.

Today I’m getting my hair cut and doing as many plant lists as I can. Tomorrow I’m concentrating on getting ready to go away: shopping for the last minute stuff, unpacking all the kit and making sure nothing’s missing, and seeing if it will all go into the not very big rucksacks we’ve hired.

We leave on Saturday. Return on Sunday April 14th. Then I’ve got a week before term begins to do four more planting plans, elevations and plant lists. It’s going to be tight.

So watch this space…..