The last mission before Christmas for Clare and I was spent on a mild morning in Sydenham, on gardening detail for Mr H and his wife.

A simple case of weeding and mowing the lawn was not so simple when one takes into account the sheer size of Mr H’s lawn. It belonged on a country pile in the Home Counties rather than South London.

Not to be put off, we set to work, with Clare on weeding and cutting duties whilst I tackled the mowing. Fortuitously, Mr H had the best set of tools I’ve ever seen on any GoodGym Mission, which made our lives easier; the mower alone was a beast of a machine. Despite clogging up the blade on every length I took, due to the sheer length and dampness of the grass, we managed to smash the task in just over an hour, although I did blow a fuse halfway through (literally, not emotionally)! Clare filled over 5 bags of garden waste and the couple were most pleased with our graft: so much so that Mrs H wrote us Christmas cards and gave us some chocolates. A really pleasant and festive end to the year.

Merry Christmas to all and sundry, it’s been a ‘Good’ year.