Painfully prickly hairy hobby

Quite a few years ago whilst visiting a nursery or some would say garden centre, my son stopped by the cacti section. We all looked at some of the more exotic array many having huge colourful flowers and most costing far too much money … My son had never been interested in gardening or plants but his eyes keenly scouted up and down the various strange and knobbly natural creations that stood before him. In the end I asked him if he would like to take one home and allowed him to choose one. The one that he finally chose was on the far side of the cacti display and was only a couple of centimetres tall … but it was covered in prickles and hair. The cactus has been in his bedroom ever since and has slowly and surely grown over the years. This is what it looks like today ……….

The first picture shows the cactus in centimetres and the second shows it in inches … it has been transplanted just three times so far in its long, tall, life!