We were heading back to Cecil Court Care Home in Kew for some unfinished business. A set of benches, sanding blocks and some vibrant blue paint were waiting our return. We had managed one coat on some well-worn garden benches the last time we had visited, but it was a patchy job which had seen several age-old spider webs (and spiders) also painted a vibrant blue. So, we had promised to return to finish the job.

And then we heard, in the manner of Chinese whispers, that the paint we had used was quite unique – if a second coat was not applied within eight hours, then the dry paint would actually repel the second coat. The science behind this boggled our minds. I mean, really, why would anyone make paint do that?? So, we set off on our run past Kew Gardens and across Kew Green slightly unsure about what we would find.

What we found was that in the weeks between our visits, the caretaker had used all of our blue paint! Fortunately, he appeared to have used it to apply a second coat to our benches so when we were all pleasantly surprised at how good they looked (‘wow, this paint is amazing…’), it was because someone had already done the job of finishing the benches off. However, that did mean that we still had three as yet untouched benches and a table to restore to glowing health with no paint. But Mark ‘never defeated’ Barun sorted us out with some terracotta (erm, brown) Cuprinol and a small tin of (possibly glow in the dark) lime paint.

Ten pairs of GoodGym hands set to the task with gusto and declared the final paint job to look fashionably distressed and the benches to now be eminently saleable on eBay. The Care Home manager looked rather less convinced by this assertion. Hopefully the helpful caretaker will take the matter in hand and apply a second coat to our lime green ‘you’ve been slimed’creations. If not, Cecil Court, fear not, we will return again…

Welcome back to Samia for a second run and good to see Liz and Ellen adorning the red shirt once again

Good running tonight, GoodGym Richmond. A nice little 6k flat and steady run on a balmy Monday evening and only a few borderline impossible warm-up drills to keep the Wholefoods crowds amused before we started. Next week we’re back to The Vineyard, one of our favourite task owners - be sure not to miss it.

P.s. top marks to Jane for finishing the Prudential Ride 100 through London on Sunday. We hope you weren’t too saddle sore.