I suppose flowers are alright. Honestly, my hay-fever tends to stir up at this time of year, which is strange considering we’re heading into winter but there you go. I think my immune system might have suffered a bit while I was in space. It wasn’t like we could really grow anything up there in the normal way, so I wasn’t about to wake up one day with the mess hall coated in carnations or anything. Not even so much as a daffodil. Once I got back to Earth, one of the things I did to try and acclimatise was to plant some tulip flower bulbs. They were for sale, I saw them online and thought I’d give them a go. I even managed to get a few of them to grow, too! But it was the pollen in the end that got me. 

Do tulips produce pollen? I don’t know, but something about them made me sneeze so they had to go. Bit of a shame, but I think I’ve lost the skills necessary to make living things grow. Not being around them for so long…well, I suppose my nasal cavities just got used to the smell of metal and artificial oxygen. Right now I’m relying on nasal spray and a lot of expensive tablets. Another reason I wish I was still up there, I suppose.

Maybe flowers just got really big while I was up there, and we all just missed the memo. I think there has been quite an upsurge in people being interested in nature. It’s like there was this massive buzz about computers and how we’re all going to be walking around with cybernetic brains by 2010, but the fad wore off and we’re all remembering how much we like being outside and riding bikes. That’s fair enough. I did miss some of that stuff when I couldn’t do it. Maybe one day I’ll try to grow some iceberg roses. Or just buy some roses online, whatever. Try to get into the swing of things.