On a sunny start to the bank holiday (seriously, what type of fever dream is this?!), I met up with Sasha for a mission in Barnet for Mr J. Today was Sasha's first mission in a while (woot! 🎉🎉🎉), so she was super keen to get started on the task: I couldn't ask for a better mission partner 😄

Mr J has very limited mobility and finds it difficult to move more than a few metres at any time. He's assisted by his son, who also has mobility issues. Unfortunately this means that they can't do some of the more physical tasks around the home, which can make the environment less safe for them. Today, Sasha and I were to help address some of this by mowing the lawn to allow Mr J safer access outside.

We were welcomed into Mr J's house by his son, who also showed us through to the back garden. The lawn out the back was pretty overgrown, containing a mixture of grass, wildflowers, wild garlic and sticky willy. I'm pleased to report that only the smell of wild garlic permeated the air as we mowed! 😏

I'd been a little anxious about this task in advance as I don't have the best of records when it comes to keeping lawnmowers functioning and as mowing was our sole job today, keeping the mower alive was pretty vital! However, not only did the mower function perfectly throughout the entire task, but also the collection bucket was incredibly easy to remove, empty and replace. This added a slightly surreal/dream-like element to the day to me, which was aided by the affection of Mr J's cat (I suspected a trap as we'd been advised in advance that she was shy) and by the discovery of a besom in the shed.

The ethereal nature of the day was tempered in part by the realities of mowing an overgrown lawn (it's such a good upper body workout and is an excellent way of exhibiting lunges). In addition to this, Sasha had reality intrude even more rudely when the newly cut grass and wild plants set off her hay fever! (Those pesky fever greens). Consequently, after an hour or so of mowing, raking and sneezing, we decided to fully return to reality by cleaning up and calling it a day.

Before we headed off, we made sure to wait a few minutes or so in order that we could say hello to Mr J and see his reaction to our efforts. He seemed overcome with emotion with what we'd managed in the time, and I hope he'll enjoy sitting out in it and in the unexpectedly good weather this weekend.

It was fun working with you, Sasha: hopefully see you around soon! 😄