Our GoodGym Camden group are experts at running without colliding into passersby.

The employ several effective techniques.

Which include the swivel, the hop-and-side-step, and the zigzag.

I've seen our runners employ each of these techniques to great success on our weekly group runs through bustling Camden.

As one local journalist described our runners: as deft as a gentle spring breeze - they make urban running look relaxing*

But!

Our wonderful group (of Emilie, Jackie, John, Rose, Steve, and Will) didn't need to employ their anti-collision techniques this week.

Meeting in the calm of Regent's Park, we started our evening with a calm and quiet run around the park's outer circle and up through quieter streets to West Hampstead.

Having reached a healthy 5K and shared stories with each other, we arrived at the Sherriff Centre and were met by the brilliant Daisy and Gosia :)

Across the next 30 minutes, we donned gloves and grabbed litter pickers, and we cleared bag-upon-bag of strewn trash and litter - the perimeter (and trees..!) of the centre are a magnet for this, but we finished leaving it clear and tidy!

Thank you so much, everyone, for your time and work - I know just how much of a difference this makes to the Sherriff Centre's team!!

Here's to next time!!

*I might be lying

Mrs E's kitchen table was on it's last legs. Only three of those were actually still attached. So it was time for the table to move on and out.

Being a solid specimen, topped with tiles, the table was too heavy for Mrs E to move herself so GoodGym popped round to lend a hand.

Nick was quick to get under the table and explore its structural integrity in greater detail. He was equally quick to get back out from under the table when he realised the remaining legs were coming off very easily indeed. Unusually, not a single tool was required.

By this stage, the duo had answered the initial question of whether and how the table would fit through the kitchen door. With the table now in 5 manageable parts, it was quickly extracted from the property and laid down next to the bins for collection.

Mr T had neatly divided today's list into Tesco/Lidl, and after we'd caught up with each other over our respective Christmases and then embarked on a long and fascinating conversation involving most of Mr T's neighbours of times past and his more recent kitchen plumbing travails, I took the trolley for one of it's longest excursions to date to the larger Tesco near Goodge Street to hopefully find the soup, bread, milk and burgers that he particularly wanted.

With part one successfully completed, it was then a quick trip around the familiar aisles of lidl to pick up the remaining items on his list, including the Brussels sprouts (where were you before Christmas?). After negotiating the usual mayhem at the cash registers, I was soon back to drop off his supplies for another week.

In the end Louise and I needed to mix quite a few ingredients in the right order to finally get Ms K's kitchen light changed and so ensure she can move around her kitchen once again without fear of tripping in the dark.

Thanks to some kind help from her neighbour Ms J, a large step ladder to reach Ms K's unusually high ceiling, and a couple of visits to the local (amazing - we sell everything) electrical shop for a new bulb and starter unit, and a bit of jiggling (highly technical term) of the new bulb in the socket, we finally got this particular recipe to work, and it seemed everyone liked the end result too!

Every January, a group in red can be found walking and running in a (seemingly) aimless fashion around Camden.

They stop frequently and their eyes dart in a (seemingly) searching manner.

Several can usually be heard saying "I think that's a tree..." before leading the group into a shadow.

Welcome, friends, to GoodGym Camden's annual Christmas Tree Scavenge!

Meeting in the welcome warmth of the Somers Town Living Centre, our group swiftly donned gloves and dropped bags before heading out to the cold for a very important task: our weekly game of Simon Says.

Having completed squats, lunges, arm circles, stretches (of many varieties), spins, twirls, and twists, our group were suitably warmed and ready to scavenge Camden for naughtily discarded Christmas Trees.

Our borough's pavements can be difficult to navigate when they're at their tidiest, and they can become thoroughly inaccessible in January when folks dump their trees on sidewalks, by bins, and in alleyways. Our annual scavenge helps ease the burden :)

Splitting into two groups, our first group of Alison, Jack, John, Louise, Rose, and Steve (led by John) shot off and up through Camden, around Regent's Park, and into Primrose Hill where... they met the most magnificently large tree! Tossed aside, this wonderful fir wouldn't look out of place in a Nordic forest, but it (perhaps) did look out of place being carried through North London streets! Especially when it was joined by several other trees the group found en route!

Our second group of Anne, Ivar, and Jackie, meanwhile, stayed closer to home and explored the green spaces and roads of Somers Town. Amidst stories of the festive season, work, and more this group discovered their first bundle of green behind a bin, and they soon caught sight of four more discarded spruces!

The photos tell a story I can't. This group made a huge difference last night, and they did so while being active and social, which is just the ticket for a dark winter evening :)

Here's to next time!!

Mr T was surprised to see me in my cycling outfit in my road bike as I normally appeared with my Brompton, he understood it was very cold outside so quickly he passed me his shopping list and I dashed out and get back in 25mins, only one item out of stock on the list is the cleaning pads! Mr T decided he can live without them for a few days until the next assistance comes.

We had our usual exchanges on current affairs, weather, food and culture. Offered if he needed any other assistance but he had nothing which he needed a hand at the time. I left the mission within an hour and terrified that GoodGym might count this as a half mission instead of one!