Thursday 17th April
Written by Sevan
Ms J had moved into her new flat without lifting a finger. She had been in hospital recently and her best friend had found a team of movers to pack Ms J's belongings, label them and dot them around her new flat. Most of Ms J's belongings were still in boxes, but her priority was getting her TV working as it was lonely being at home with only her cat Coco to keep her company as she was still waiting to have her broadband connected.
Ms J's friend said that the TV was working right before Sevan arrived, then started showing a black screen with no channels available. As this was the most important thing to do, Sevan took a look and it was confusing. After 20 minutes, he figured out that someone had switched it away from the Freeview channels to another TV mode that looked almost identical 💡📺. With that mystery solved, it was onto the unpacking.
Ms J had some essentials that were top of the list to find. Firstly, her electric blanket as her illness left her feeling cold all the time and next up was her razor. It wasn't mentioned at the start, but Sevan found that Ms J was interested in any cosmetics that he found in boxes, so they probably completed the top 3.
When Sevan started to open the large boxes to find Ms J's hit list, he found that there was nowhere to empty the contents to. The flat didn't have much storage, so he rummaged through each box trying to find useful things then put everything else back in the box. Some adhoc storage was created by stacking a couple of empty boxes on their sides to make temporary cubby holes and they became quickly filled with shoes, so it was back to repacking.
The electric blanket was found quickly as it was big and furry. The razor on the other hand was elusive. The boxes in the bedroom were mainly clothes and linens and after exhausting those, it was time to root through what was left in the living room. Eventually, after being foxued on finding it for most of the task, Sevan found a razor shaped thing which, it turned out was missing its head and its charger. It was the old one apparently, so the hunt went on until Sevan ran out of time.
Monday 17th March
Written by Jonathan (he/him)
Always a fun mission helping out the TRAID crew.
Thanks to everyone for your help!
Saturday 5th April
Written by Emily Oldfield
I cycled over on a beautiful sunny Saturday and met Mr W's son who was very welcoming and explained the tasks. The council had recently been to clear the debris and contents from a broken down shed but the area still needed clearing of leaves, weeds, rubbish, rocks and bricks. The second task was levelling around the edge of the garden with soil as there was a trench. With a shovel and some core strength I managed to fill in the trench and get it all leveled. Mr W's son was very grateful and explained the plans to build a new shed soon. Oh and bonus - cute cats!
Friday 28th March
Written by Kash
Mr R had two jobs for me today: trimming three rose bushes and chopping down two trees. I started with the easy win, cutting back the largest of the rose bushes, and emerged victorious from the battle with that thorny subject.
Hungry for a greater challenge, I had a rummage in Mr R's superb, even if a bit worn, shed. I wanted to cut down that tree! I tried three different saws (out of six that were in sight) that looked like they were designed to cut through wood. All of them were equally rusty, and I went as far as a quarter of the way into the tree's trunk. While I was in denial that I got stuck, Mr R came to the garden and asked how I was doing.
I admitted that the saws could have been a tad sharper. Mr R pointed me to the shed and showed me that there were more saws on the cupboard, which was taller than me, so I hadn't noticed those tools before. Bluntly speaking (pun intended), none of the three other saws would cut it (pun intended again). Mr R then reached for his ultimate weapon, which he had used for carpentry back when he was younger. Finally, that little saw did the job. Amid the intense sawing, the blade came out just when the tree was going down. Luckily it was not broken and I asked Mr R for a screwdriver to attach it back to the handle so that I could take down the second tree.
"So you're a jack of all trades!" - Mr R.
I guess I am. Before leaving I spoke with Mr R about him looking after his shed, sitting in the greenhouse in the summer and about his work at British Home Store. The chat was so enjoyable that I forgot to take an "after" photo of the trimmed rose bushes. I left wishing Mr R a nice dinner, which I knew he had planned for later in the day.
Sunday 23rd March
Written by StephDucat
Steph arrived in Hammersmith after a morning community mission. Rang ahead to tell Mr W son that would be there in 30 minutes as his son doesn't live there and would meet to open the door and garden. Mr W son welcomed Steph and both went to the garden through the kitchen where we stopped as it was cat feeding time. We went outside to feed the cat..no sorry the cats - 3 cats were waiting outside to get their lunch. Steph in the meantime started wedding the garden, but then Mr W son asked if could tidy the garden up as a lot of items all over the place. Steph moved and sorted items that could be binned like wet cardboard, empty bags full of water, broken plastic items etc.. Put aside the items that would need to be sorted and either keep or recycle etc with Mr W's son on another occasion. In the meantime. Steph was under neighbourhood watch : the 3 cats had finished their lunch, but then were intrigued with what was happening in the garden. Weed, grass, moss, wild mushrooms and leaves removed and more space in the garden as tidy up near the cat territory. The cats were keeping an eye on Steph and started adventuring in places they havent been before in the garden as tidy and easier for then to adventure. The cats approved the works and went to their occupations of eating leftover food and watching birds coming into the garden.
Monday 17th March
Written by Lucy Hill
It felt more like Boxing Day than St Patrick’s day in Hammersmith tonight, as six GoodGymmers from across West London came to help out at the TRAID restock. A regular jaunt, the task tonight was to help the clothes charity ready for the new season restock. Hangers were cleared from the rails and clothes methodologically folded into giant cardboard boxes to be taken off for restock. Not all heroes wear capes, some have tape - Sevan and Monika did a class job of making and packing the boxes. GoodGym Hammersmith Legend Jonathan lent a hand when he wasn’t too busy checking out some of the latest fashions (he was gutted that the Thai boxing shorts weren’t quite in his size), and we welcomed Hannah and Lizzie along to their first ever GoodGym tasks - and they did a rail-ly great job getting the clothes where they needed to be. Mission completed, box ticked, and six good deeds done!
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