A mum took her brother's instructions to 'take good care' of his beloved tomato plant while he was on holiday to the extreme - taking it EVERYWHERE with her including to the hairdressers, cinema and even pub. Jo Young had been asked to water her brother Paul's tomato plant whilst he jetted off to Tenerife for a seven-day beach vacation.
The mother-of-three was told to keep the 20-centimetre-tall plant in the sun and water it twice a day but Jo had other ideas and decided to have some fun whilst her sibling was away. Jo documented her week caring for the shrub by taking 'Tommy' the tomato plant to 25 locations including the pub, the park and the hairdressers.
Over the seven days, Tommy went for a spin in a taxi, enjoyed a trip to Jo's work and a pint in the garden. The 46-year-old even sneaked the tomato plant into the cinema in a plastic bag to watch The Little Mermaid and at the weekend enjoyed watching Manchester City win the Premier League on TV with friends and family.
Jo said she loved looking after Tommy and family and friends found the whole stunt hilarious - as Paul is currently competing to see who can grown the tallest tomato plant. She documented the plant's adventures in a series of photos before sharing it on TikTok, where it racked up more than 700,000 views and almost 48,000 likes.
Jo, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, said: "Before Paul went away, he kept telling me to take good care of his plant and I thought 'don't worry I'll take good care of him'. On the Saturday he [my brother] went on holiday I thought it would be funny to document me taking good care of the plant.
"I took it to the cinema to see the Little Mermaid, went for a pub lunch and on the sunbeds. When I went to the cinema, I snuck it in a bag. They didn't check your bags so he was able to get in.
"I visited my dad and his sister-in-law and took it out to lunch with my cousin and he even went to the hairdressers with me and into work. When I took it to the hairdressers and work everyone was just laughing because they know what I'm like. They thought it was funny."
She added: "I had people messaging me and giving me ideas of where to take it. I wanted to take it on the Coronation Street tour and put it on the Rovers Bar but it doesn't open until June so I was quite upset about that. I don't know if I would have got it in either.
"My family found it very funny. They were all just laughing especially when my brother put in the family WhatsApp group 'Jo, I hope you're looking after my plant' everyone was just laughing as he didn't know what was going on. The tomato plant had a great time."
Paul, 54, is currently in competition with his sister-in-law Anne Leech to grow the tallest tomato plant, which is why Jo was asked to look after Tommy when he went away. Whilst Paul enjoyed his holiday with his wife Joan, 59, he was completely unaware of Jo's funny joke and didn't find out about it until he returned to the UK.
The dad-of-two only found out about Tommy the tomato plant's antics during the break last month when Jo sent him a montage video via WhatsApp of the plant posed up in various locations. Paul, a car technician, said: "I had no idea Jo was doing this whilst I was away.
"She sent me a WhatsApp video when I got back from my holiday and told me I needed to sit down and watch it. I didn't know how to take this at first and whether it would be good or bad, but when I pressed play, I just started laughing.
"I couldn't believe how many places she had taken to the tomato plant too. She had even taken it to the social club where I go to play cards. It was just crazy.
"They had gone to see all the family and took it to the local newsagents and I couldn't believe she managed to sneak it into the cinema. The competition is just a bit of light hearted fun. I planted my tomato plant at the end of March and it has grown from a seedling."
Paul is set to go on holiday again in a couple of months and is already questioning what his tomato plant will get up to. Paul, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, added: "I'm now wondering what is going to happen next time I go away.
"Will there be a part two? I don't know what's going to happen next. Next time the plant will have grown and will be taller so it won't be as easy to sneak into places either."
