Miss L's front garden had a lot of leaves in it given that none of the trees nearby had turned red. She explained that they blew in from a neighbouring road and no matter what she tried, there was no way to keep them out. Normally, Miss L would be able to sweep them up herself, but she was still recovering after a recent operation.

There were 2 brushes and 2 black bags, 1 brush and bag each for inside the garden and for the street side. The garden was small, yet had lots of places for leaves to hide. They were even found under an older black bag that'd been filled with leaves in June. Due to this it took some time, otherwise it was fairly straightforward.

On the street was more interesting. The street brush, it turned out, was held together with blutack, which didn't give a good first impression. In use, it was actually plenty sturdy enough and did a great job of making leaf piles. The leaves were expected. What wasn't was half of a broken glass bottle and a brown "leaf" with a Fairtrade sticker on. Maybe there's a banana tree to discover nearby 🍌

After the mission, Miss L ~~offered~~ insisted on a hot drink and biscuits which turned in to a 1 hour plus chat about health, family, the safety of cycling in London and the downsides of soya milk in coffee.

Sure enough, on the way out of Miss L's house, there was a fresh selection of leaves in the garden. None of them appeared to have Fairtrade stickers though.