It’s the second Thursday of the month and that means the Board Meetings. So, today I have sat on the UK Domestic Board all morning, talking about our half-year end figures and setting our forecasts for the second half. If that’s not enough of a yawn, the afternoon has been spent video-conferencing with the USA doing much the same for our Global Board.

Actually, it is good to be part of this mad thing but it’s also good to be home, having realised I’ve seen almost no daylight today.

While I was driving home, the heavens opened and we had another soaking. We’ve actually given up all hope of abandoning our wellies here in the UK this summer.

So, I got home and wanted some fresh air. I drifted out into the garden without much of a plan for a photo and discovered that the sun was shining on all of the raindrops so I dashed back inside, collected macro lens and star filter and here is one of the resultant photos. Interestingly, when I looked at the thumbnails this one didn’t look like the most promising. Several of the others had two or three stars whereas this one has only the one BUT the colours in this are so vibrant I decided it had to be ‘the one’.

This little Coral Bark Acer has proven to be a huge star of the garden this year. I planted it last year and although it looked OK – it was just too small to make any real impact. This year though it has ‘gone like a train’ and has been covered with apricot and lime green leaves all summer. Although it was the most expensive plant I’ve ever bought, it’s certainly earned its keep and I’ve never watered it since I planted it last spring. It just seems to like the conditions in our front garden.

So I get to spend a little time out of the airless, air-conditioned office and a little time in a much more benign environment. Now I’m off to the other ‘black hole’ of my life, the kitchen to whip up supper for DM and me. I’ve not given that much thought either so by the time this is being read, you can imagine me peering into the fridge scratching my head and looking puzzled. So what can I cook with a carrot, half a pepper and a few courgettes? It’s a complete magical mystery tour for me in the kitchen tonight!