Saturday 11th November 2023
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
Report written by Sevan
Kash and Sevan's second visit to Mr R took them outside to his back garden. The sun was shining and it was an unexpectedly beautiful day in November. Mr R wasn't sure what his garden needed, so a general tidy up, including cutting the grass and weeding was asked for.
Kash and Sevan split the tasks, with Kash taking command of the petrol powered lawnmower and Sevan going after the weeds. There'd be some curveballs along the way too.
Kash was told that Mr R's carers had spent an hour trying to start the lawnmower without any joy. A lawnmower that was far too large for his small garden. There could be something wrong with it the GoodGymers were told. With multiple levers and handles, none of them really knew how to work the thing or diagnose any problems. Kash tried the starter once, twice, three times, without getting the engine to turn over. Sevan suggested looking up the manual.
With electronic manual in hand, Kash mastered the controls, removed packing tape holding of the two handles together, moved a couple of the levers, then gave the starter another firm pull. BRUMMMmmmmm throbbed the engine! There was life in the mower. Mr R began to grumble about his carers' lawnmower knowledge, which, to be fair, isn't really their area of expertise. He was however very impressed with the GoodGymers resourcefulness, so he now knows to call us to solve any practical challenges.
While Kash got to work with the unwieldy lawnmower, Sevan had his first unplanned task. He discovered that foxes had been depositing some landmines on Mr R's paths which Mr R couldn't pick up himself. These were as much of a danger to the wheels of Mr R's mobility scooter as they were to the GoodGymers' shoes. Sevan was asked to clean up the mess, so turned a bin liner into a giant poo bag 💩
After a few more tasks, Sevan finally moved on to weeding, finding that half of the lawn was covered in big dandelions and similar. The next hour was spent digging up Mr R's lawn, with Kash's help, making it look like a mole town. Although there was no grass growing under the weeds, Kash and Sevan still felt bad about making such a mess with the soil.
Before running off into the sunset, Kash shared her secret knowledge on how to fire up the lawnmower and helped Mr R order a new weed sprayer.
Ealing
Help run drop-in service on a Friday where homeless can get free clothes and wellbeing services