It was 3 degrees when five fearless runners (including two wearing shorts and no tights! 😲) and a solo walker proved that wind and cold are just a minor hindrance, not enough to make them change the plans about Ealing's Tuesday group run.

We sunk into a leafy pile in one of Acton's school yards, armed with buckets, bin sacks and gardening gloves we wish were better suited for handling wet, mushy leaves. Our job was to collect and bag as many leaves as we could for Cultivate London to use them as compost.

As a team of six, we collected an impressive number of bags, which we forgot to count, too busy thinking about unique leaf-related puns. The temperature dropped to 2 degrees and our fingers were freezing, so task owner Romina released us from duty early, which we didn't mind, dreaming about hot beverages. A brisk walk to one of the chai places in Acton didn't warm us up sufficiently, so we opted for a chai pot, a mint tea, a hot chocolate and a few eggs & beans breakfasts (yes!) with paratha. Fortified with all that goodness, we ran back to Ealing before we got cold again.

We have another group run this week - a daytime one, ideal for new joiners - our tasks is to clear Christmas trees from the streets where they obstruct the pavement and won't be collected by the council for another week.

Next week's usual Tuesday session is to woodchip a path in Walpole Park.