In my second Cardiff mission (missions on tour 2019), I met up with Nathan for a mission for Mr P.

The description of this mission online was very intriguing: It mentioned both tightening screws on a car and "applying a protective cover", with further instructions to be provided by Mr P on the day.

In actuality, it turned out that the legs of Mr P's gazebo (which were securely screwed in) were askew on one side, and he hoped that we would be able to straighten them so that he could safely park his car under the gazebo. The "protective cover" was merely a gazebo cover that needed to be put on afterwards.

Unscrewing the feet of the gazebo turned out to be the easiest part of the job, with a close second being the time I happily watched Nathan measure up and mark where the feet (& consequently the new holes) should go.

Next came the bit we weren't really supposed to do: We may (or may not) have used a power tool to drill holes in the driveway. There were both cordless and mains operated drills and, tbh, I don't think either of them could have been that powerful as it took us an awfully long time to drill just the three holes we needed (seriously, is there some type of special technique we should know about?!). In fact, I'm pretty sure my hand oscillated more than the drill bit (it was very much a case of torque to the hand because the drill bits aren't listening 💁), so definitely not a power tool (that we may or may not have used).

Regardless, we got the job done, putting some rawl plugs into the new holes and manually screwing the feet in to finish the job.

Next came the gazebo cover, which was surprisingly easy to pull over an already assembled gazebo with just the use of a ladder and a couple of long handled brushes. As it was slightly windy, we were keen to get the cover strapped down as quickly as possible using some toggles and some bungee cord (slightly frayed where we cut it, and so genuinely making a frayed knot 😄). This was when we (I) suffered our (my) sole injury: it turns out that bungee cord can cut through cuticle. Thankfully Mr P had some plasters and a Dettol wipe, so my finger is unlikely to go gangrenous 👍

Job done, we made our goodbyes to Mr P and to each other (I'm not sure if I remembered to thank Mr P for the refreshments he offered us during the task, but they were very much appreciated!). I'm glad to think Mr P's car will be better protected against the elements, and it'll be a bit safer for him to get between there and his door in all weathers :)

Lovely working with you, Nathan; you're welcome anytime in Camden! 😄