Yesterday I ran from my morning of Samaritans training to my first of GG's new Social Visits - having enjoyed coach runs and missions in the past, I was interested to see this new iteration of GG giving us an opportunity to run for a chinwag with an older person in our community.

The run wasn't long, so I wasn't too sweaty on arrival. As soon as I knocked, Mrs E welcomed me in. We spent an hour talking about all sorts, but particularly about our families and the importance of human connection. There were also a couple of fun surprises, including Mrs E's sense of humour, and learning about her connection with a corner shop - she spent years connected to it, and when she showed me a picture (from 1962, at top of report here) I realised she used to live down the road from where I live now.

This led to some lovely chat about the neighbourhood and how it's changed over the years since she moved to another area - she was chuffed to hear that one of the other corner shops from that time, which was turned into a home, has now been changed back into a community space (Fairfax Corner's Refill cafe, where I volunteer and spend lots of lunch breaks).

I had an absolute blast seeing Mrs E. If you see a listing come up for her, sign up - I don't think you'll regret it!

Mission accomplished.