Four fearless runners congregated under a small building overhang next to Jim & Tonic. The weather was very brisk and now rather wet, an unwelcome duo, in fact most definitely my least favourite. We all perked up after a little chat discussing surprises, who likes the shock element of good news, and who would prefer to load up that info earlier. We had good examples of for and against, some apathy and some nuance. As always, rangy responses.

We ran through the worst of the weather and met Kev, Paul and Suzanne at The Up Garden. With our pergola painting deferred again due to the moist timber we had another job in store. 'Shed management' is probably the best descriptor of our role yesterday. Suzanne has quite a precise image of how to utilise the shed space, yesterday's task certainly got her closer to that end-goal. However due to lack of tools we couldn't build the shelves. However, we did remove most of the contents, level some of the gravel, box up a load of miscellaneous bits, reorient the trunk and the reload the whole shed. Mostly in the cold pissing rain...

Respect to all of you that showed up yesterday - The Up Garden only exists because of efforts like yours, and it's a blimmin' wonderful space!

Next week we head to a nice close task, at Nomadic Gardens - will update the exact task details as they are known to me - but last time we painted a boat with free artistic license...you want some of that right? Sign up here

Till then,

B

We haven't actually checked, but unofficially Rosa and I reckon that's the largest post-covid participation we've had. Maybe the two cakes after the short run were justified after all, no, they definitely were.

Awesome to welcome Amrit, Sarah and Paul to the group. Bit of a rogue opening session, that's not super uncommon actually, but we don't always break in though, just to confirm.

An unexpected warm-up routine, not seen in a few months, loosened us up, then we got stuck into the Random Weekly Question: "What's your favourite 90s TV Show?" Cow Chicken, X-Men for the cartoon kings. Spaced, Seinfeld, The Ali G Show, The Fast Show and the big-hitting Friends, all comedy gold. Power Rangers, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Keenan & Kel, Due South, Come Outside (aka the dog and plane show) and of course The A Team (which ran between '83 -'87). Tell you what, I bloody love the 90s.

Upon arrival at Abbey Gardens it turned out that the gates were locked, the ones I worriedly ask about multiple times, these things happen, and solutions are found. Some of the guys didn't need much convincing to wriggle under that fence, in fact they needed none, trespassing really suits some of you. Once in and after the faff of finding the tools and gloves (thanks Hils for getting extra), we began the task. The extra hands really came into use, nettles were ripped up, weeds were weeded, and the whole area around the stone beds looked a load better. We identified the mallow plant and the tansy, then hacked the poor buggers right out. A large group effort finished the session off as we transported a load of old wood, again, due to numbers only took a few minutes, lovely stuff.

On the way back it, I sensed a collective pining for unilateral leg work and explosive jumps, ever the people pleaser I had to submit. So with a backdrop of some random graffiti, we developed strength and power of the lower body, seamlessly integrated into our run back.

Big props to Hils, Shaz and Kev. 700 deeds, 500 deeds and 6 year GG Anniversary. I can't really do any justice to that in a a few words, but what I will say is - you're inspiring the rest of us, thank you.

If you want to level some ground then I'll see you next week, expect more organisation, as there should be someone at Abbey Gardens to direct us (let us in). Sign up here

Till then,

B