Mr B was full of news during the second mission to build his flat pack drawers.

"I have bad news. I don't have any coffee." - Mr B
"That's OK, water would be fine." - Sevan

Mr B explained the trouble that he was having with his benefits and was so happy to have Kash and Sevan to complete his clothes storage to solve one of the problems that he faced. By the end of the first mission, most of the frame and 2 drawers were done. So the pair "only" needed to build 4 drawers, attach the top, the back and the decorative bits to the front.

"My luck's not great, but I still buy lottery tickets." - Mr B
"Well, it's good to have hope."

Kash and Sevan's historic selves had left future GoodGymers some markings on the instruction sheets to explain how far the build had gotten. That made it easy to get going again, with Kash volunteering for the intricacies of drawer assembly. Sevan was left with with adding pieces to the main carcass, so he had to flip and turn it to be able to drive the screws in for the remaining bits.

"I've got good news!"
"I found 3 lottery tickets that I haven't checked." - Mr B
"Well, they could be worth millions..." - Sevan
"No matches found. Good luck next time."
"No matches found. Good luck next time."
"No matches found. Good luck next time."
"The tickets only matched 1 number." - Mr B
"Maybe next time..."

Mr B, having been a builder and plasterer, had a good set of tools. When it came to pinning the back of the drawers in place, Sevan could only find a rubber mallet, which was too bouncy to knock the tacks into place. After asking Mr B for a hammer, he produced an even larger mallet with a metal head. Sevan feared for his fingers and thumbs. There was no other option though, so the tiny tacks were held between thumb and forefinger and Sevan played mallet roulette with his digits. No fingers or finger nails were lost, but there was a bit of pain and it was a relief when Mr B finally found a regular hammer.

After 6 hours of effort, the drawers were complete and looked great. They were no longer a trip hazard littered around the bedroom and Mr B was immensely grateful. Looking back, maybe the handyman's initial estimate of £150 to build the drawers wasn't all that wild after all?

Afternoon mission at Mr E and upon arrival I knew I had been here before some time ago. When Mr E opened the door we both recognised each other. Lat time I was here with my Goodgym partners in crime Sevan and Kash. I was back to clear the back garden from bramble, weed and bind weed. Mr E brought the tools and some extension leads which were all tangled up like the bind weed and bramble around the items on his garden. He said every time he tried to untangle this mess it got knotted up more. You’re knot going to believe the kind of tangling involved. What would my "T"angle of attack be with both the garden and the extension leads? I started with the garden and got the hand mover free of the bramble and bindweed. Did the same with the fence as started to be taken over by brambles and weed. Then attacked the garden and also collected all the apples from the floor as the apple tree was dropping them by buckets. All cleared and we could see the shed at the end of the garden and also the soil in his back garden. Then mission impossible or possible with the tangled leads?! Operation "Tangle trisection" : after a few minutes the knots disappeared as took the right "t"angle to resolve this.

The August conservation day at Grove Farm felt like a proper summer day, after a bit chillier week. Four GoodGymers: Steph, Sevan, Maxime and Kash, were back to continue cutting back the thorny shrubs alongside the lane dividing the woodlands from the meadows at Grove Farm. They met Friends of Grove Farm: Mike, Bharti, Fred and Olena, who was back after a study break. The team of eight started where some of them had finished at the July session.

Ninety minutes of intense trimming, raking and litter picking made a significant difference and left the lane looking tidy and refreshed. As per Mike's suggestion, we have left the plants with berries not cut to make sure the woodland animals would have enough food for the winter months.

We will be back at Grove Farm in September for more conservation work - save the date and sign up now!

No - not the singer but a delicious lunch for clients today. Chefs Andrew and Arul excelled themselves with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, beans and onion gravy. There was a vegetable stir fry with rice for the vegetarians. It was a busy day at the Hub with games, English lessons, exercises, showers, food parcels, clothes distribution and lunch for the clients. Even with a shortage of volunteers, everything went like clockwork and saw a lot of satisfied clients.

I was on kitchen duty at the Soup Kitchen this morning and that meant chopping onions for the vegetable stir fry and then onion gravy. Raw onions always mean tears for me but I managed to get through it. Kitchen shifts involve whatever needs doing so there were dishes and pots to wash, tables to organise and general cleaning up to be done. All in time for the lunch service.

Today I've done my tour of Sainsbury's for Mr G in reverse: starting with the paninis (that often get sold out in the evenings) and finishing with cavolo nero and baby potatoes.

Mr G's additional request was to relieve him from another bundle of accumulated coins, which, to his disappointment, even the fellow corner shop owner refused to accept. The till in Sainsbury's wasn't that fussy about the format of the money and swallowed all the coppers and nickels I've thrown into it.

Most of the products' expiry date was strangely 26th August. Is the World's End date set to that day by any chance?