Paul and Patrick crossed the river after GoodGym's mega mission in North London to brighten K's day and home by cleaning the food stains from her windows and clearing out troublesome weeds and leaves in her garden

K greeted us warmly and explained that her garden was littered with detritus from higher flats, weeds and leaves and the food thrown from above had dirtied her windows so she was even unable to enjoy the view from the warmth of her flat. She was particularly happy to meet us after having to reschedule the mission a couple of times.

As two GG veterans, we understood what to do and didn't want to stand in the cold so were keen to crack on. Thankfully, K kindly provided us with an energy boost with hot, sweet tea and digestive biscuits and we were off.

Contrary to the photographic evidence (!) Paul started with weeding and sweeping while Patrick took on the windows, starting with the "sun-dried" gravy from above and general grime.

Goldilocks and the three brooms

Paul used not one, not two, but three different brooms before getting into a rhythm.

You need a broom with stiff bristles to move leaves around: the first was too soft, the second was also too soft but the third was juuuust right. I later discovered this and used my hands to scoop up leaves once I'd finished cleaning windows and joined Paul on the garden.

We also plucked as many of the weeds and fallen sycamore seeds between the cracks as possible.

GoodGym are worth the weight

The windows needed some TLC but , with some surface and window cleaner and a lot of elbow-grease, they were sparkling by the end. I'd rinsed out the cloths a number of times and dirtied the bucketful of hot, soapy water so we knew a lot of dirt had been removed.

The higher windows were just out of reach but we managed to find a couple of very solid 20kg weights which gave me enough of a boost to reach the tops of the windows.

So long, farewell

You can really see the impact that we made in a couple of hours: the garden and windows will both look glorious on a sunny day. K was so grateful for the work and was looking forward to enjoying and seeing her garden again.

We cleared up, disposed of the debris and warmed up by trying the local fish 'n' chip shop before enjoying the rest of the weekend.