They were low on volunteers this week so appreciated two newbies to this task. Asma was keen to join the GoodGym after hearing me race on how great it is, and this session was near work that only required an hour away from the office. Looks can be deceiving...we started of moving the tables from the church hall to the front and I felt like She- Ra (80s character for those too young to remember ;) they were so light I'm sure I could have spun them on my pinkie finger and flung them across! Rest assured I wasn't brave to attempt that but cool to imagine it. Then the chairs were set up and next onto moving the boxes of goods into the side room. The City Harvest van arrived and this is where Asma learnt something she never thought of before, how to manoeuvre the trolley without dropping the pallets, but mastered it she did. After watching the trial and error, I decided it was easier for me to carry in the pallets. The donation of Gail's bread required slicing in half and bagging up yummy looking pastries. We left when the hot meals were being delivered as the other volunteers for the Foodbank were around.

When is a mission to put up curtains not a mission to put up curtains? When you need to replace the curtain rail too! That was a surprise to Sevan when he arrived at Ms S' flat. She pointed to the new rail and fixings on her coffee table and explained that the old rail was broken. Both of her curtains were stuck, one closed and one partially open.

Sevan wasn't sure if he could change the curtain rail. He tried prodding and pulling it. He tried unscrewing and sliding it. Sliding seemed like the right way, but it barely moved. Sevan was perched high up a step ladder in front of some beautiful and tall, but single glazed windows, so he didn't dare to use too much force as he'd already collected his fair share of injuries.

On to plan B then. Due to the windows, Ms S always felt the cold in winter, so she'd sewed a makeshift pleated pelmet (are they still a thing?) to hang over the top of her curtains and stop the cold draughts from getting into her flat. Ms S asked Sevan to tack it into the window frame above the curtain rail.

The purple material was around 50cm high and 5m long. Sevan could tack up around 1m at a time, so he needed to make sure that the remaining loose fabric didn't pull the rest down. The stepladder was climbed, 4 tacks hammered in, then Sevan cautiously went back to ground level while supporting the pelmet and slid the ladder along. It was slow going. Eventually, the last nail went in and the pelmet stayed in place.

"I feel warmer already, even if it's only in my head" - Ms S

In fact, Ms S was so happy that Sevan forgot to take an after photo. You'll need to mirror the half-way-done photo in your mind.

I arrived at Miss P, who was delighted to see me come and help with her back garden. She explained that she loves sitting in her garden, but currently cannot keep it tidy as she cannot stay standing more than 10 minutes. As it is Autumn, a lot of leaves and old wood. I cleared all the leaves, the weed and did some trimming on the trees and rose bush. The branches needed cutting back as I was hitting my head all the time and if you wanted to sit on the bench you got stabbed by thorns. So cleared that section and Miss P can sit on the bench with not being stabbed and it also brighten up the garden as was blocking the daylight coming in. Miss P sat down and was chatting away with me and said she speaks to her flowers and plants too and that is why they are so lovely and keep growing. Now that the bench and area was tidy, Miss P can sit down and speak to them again with out being attacked by thorns. During the session we also had a visit from the neighbors cat : was he checking my work. I was given water in a Xmas cup. Is it Xmas already?

How did a rosy start of the mission go down the toilet?

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Sevan and Kash rolled their slightly battered bodies from Ealing to West Kensington. After a 9km run, none of them had fallen apart, which was a good sign, especially for Kash, who hadn’t done that distance in one go since late June.

Mrs J had two types of gardening tasks for GoodGymers: one at high altitude and another at ground level. Sevan, who took the first kind of the job as the taller person, was unsure how he was going to reach the rose bushes - or should I say trees - to deadhead them, four metres or so above the ground. Mrs J had an answer for that: a long-reach telescopic pruner, which she couldn’t wield herself. Kash, on the other hand, started spot weeding flower beds, then moved onto quite a peculiar task of kneading forget-me-nots. According to Mrs J, the carpet of forget-me-not plants kept a little fence around the beds up and kept the neighbours’ cats away from the flower beds. It made sense to Kash that soil obscured by creeping greenery wouldn’t resemble a litter tray anymore. That was a first hint of the toilet coming later into the picture.

After the first round of deadheading roses in the sky, Sevan swapped with Kash and helped her locate more flowers to prune. They worked just like a spotter and a sniper, taking down one rose after another. Quickly, they moved into trimming a tree, whose branches ventured into the neighbour’s territory despite a very tall fence. Kash, usually averse to precision work in a garden, enjoyed long-distance pruning so much she didn’t notice when Sevan cleared all the remaining weeds she had left behind and started bagging the trimmings.

Just when almost all the green waste was packed up, Mrs J surprised the GoodGymers with a question:

Would you be able to install a toilet seat?

The query was primarily aimed at Sevan, as Mrs J seemed to associate masculinity with the loo know-how. Sevan accepted the challenge and learned about Mrs J’s reckless relative after whose visit the toilet seat lost its structural integrity. While Kash entertained herself by stroking Mrs J’s cat and viewing the photos of Mrs J’s late beloved dog, Sevan quickly swapped the old, broken seat with a new one. Mrs J was very grateful for all the help in the garden and restroom.

Thank you so much for your help today - Mrs J
You can think about us while sitting comfortably on the new seat! - Sevan

Just spent my Sunday morning volunteering at the Paddington Recreation grounds helping organize a 2K park run for 4-14 year olds. It was lovely to see the enthusiasm of so many kids running their laps and getting their finish tokens. For my part, I volunteered as a marshal, helping make sure the kids were safe and cheering them on with some well-earned high fives :) I'll definitely be joining them again next weekend and hope to see more friendly GoodGymers there!

Our small but mighty team of GoodGymers tackled the Norland Open Space once again, using twisting techniques to pull out weeds and making great progress on another section. The area is looking much tidier thanks to our efforts! 🌟

As we gardened, we had some great chats - from foraging for mushrooms and nettles to make homemade ketchup, to the possibilities and pitfalls of AI. The soil looked particularly healthy, with plenty of worms wriggling about - a great sign! 🐛

We managed to get back from our run just before the daylight disappeared, and it's a good thing - next time we'll definitely be heading indoors!