It is inexcusable for rockstars to arrive too early on the stage but we showed up at Mr L's doorstep a few minutes too early. The front door to his house was already ajar and blocked with a can of paint. After Sevan knocked on the door, we heard Mr L's voice inviting us in. We found him in the kitchen, attending to a frying pan which was making a lot of crackling noises. He opened the garden door for us and we knew right away which kind of garden it was.

It was the "jungle" type, the one that gives you a bit of an eerie feeling. Tall weeds took over the whole place, the grass looked intimidating for the rusty lawnmower and a single branch of the neighbour's rose bush joylessly dangled from the fence. We weren't sure what we would find behind the overgrowth - a Predator? The answer came shortly when I discovered a half-dead rat that must have gotten injured by a nearby rat trap. We didn't feel like gods of life and death at the time, so we reported the case to Mr L who took the rat to the rear end of the garden and assured us that "the blackbird will sort him out".

We decided not to go off track from our task, so we moved a heavy ladder away to get to the lawnmower. I have seen Sevan with a mower in action, so I was sure he will handle the grass-cutting job nicely - even against tall grass while using a worn-out piece of equipment. I was right about that. He quickly came up with an inventive technique to tackle the long grass while I attacked the tall weeds that I couldn't pull with my hands with shears.

I found time for a small talk with Mr L, who shared his advice about education, his opinion on covid and memories of his wonderful friend who happened to be of the same nationality as I am. In the meantime, Sevan had most of the grass cutting sorted out. Encouraged by his impressive results, I decided to give the mower a shot as well and took up the challenge to cut grass by a dodgy trench we kept tripping over.

The outcome we achieved in less than 80 minutes was pretty good, so we started wrapping up to have enough time to run to our following task. Mr L was happy with our work and asked whether me and my "husband" would come again to help with the rest of the garden.

Mr L might have gotten our relations totally wrong but he rightly identified us as coffee lovers. He tried to give us a pretty substantial reward that would buy us a half dozen decent cappuccinos but we firmly but politely refused. He seemed disappointed, so I asked if he could give me a glass of cold water. I found the drink as refreshing as Mr L's advice about old age, relationships and life in general. Without a doubt, that was my favourite mission of the day.