The preface

You don't always get to see it, but there's always an amount of organisation goes on behind the scenes for any GoodGym task.

This task was no exception, with much discussion on Bath Taskforce's WhatsApp group 24 hours earlier, about the incoming threat of Storm Arwen - the first named storm of the season.

What you may also not know is that GoodGym Bath has an extra trump card up it's sleeve - in the form of our very own former Weather Forecaster, Meyrick.

Hanging out with Meyrick is usually an education: you'll learn how exciting the different cloud types are; you'll know exactly how cold/wet you're feeling (hint: it's GoodGym - you're always cold, dirty and wet!); and you'll probably also learn some astrophysics for good measure!

Yesterday, our WhatsApp discussion was treated to excerpts from the Beaufort Scale...

"Normal is defined as 'structural damage, such as chimney covers, roofing tiles blown off, television antennas damaged, small twigs and broken branches'."

:) "Normal" when you're hanging out with Meyrick!!

Which was the bottom line here... Meyrick was absolutely comfortable with attending, and therefore so were we!

You can trust the weatherman!

On the day

The Beaufort Scale (wind speed) is one of those things you learn about in your life, along with things like Moh's scale (mineral hardness) and the Bristol Scale (something else entirely), which actually you don't really use in your day to day life...

But today I may not have needed to scratch some quartz using a bit of topaz, or needed to know that, erm, a Picnic Bar is more lumpy than a Mars Bar, BUT entirely as predicted, all the signs of Storm Arwen's #8 on the scale were there - broken twigs aplenty, and even a bit of broken roof tile. But the wind was definitely abating as we arrived for our mission ...

... just in time for the totally NOT predicted snow...

We met with Friends of The Orchard in the blizzard, everyone was wrapped up for cold and wet, but we were still keen to get going with the planned bulb planting.

With the bag of bulbs planted though, and with the fields on the side of Lansdown above us already turning white with the snow, our Friends decided to call off the rest of the morning's plans - so we had a quick tea and/or coffee and bade farewell.

But we definitely made a difference ... one of the residents next to where we were planting bulbs specifically came out of their house in the snow to tell us so! :)

Oh hey.

Before starting this report I'd like to foreshadow with letting my audience know I'll be using gd pnctution and grmr throughout.

This morning Art, Meyrick, Emily myself and newcomer Mark, made what can only be described as an organic boxing ring at the orchard in Weston. Except where there's normally ropes we had branches. And where there's normally a crash mat, we put leaves. So actually, the only similarity is it's squareness and if I'm totally honest, it wasn't that either.

After fighting a few rounds we were invited to a real life scything demonstration from professor Xavier. He showed us correct sharpening, gripping and swinging technique; it's easy enough, you just move it side to scythe. That poor patch of grass never saw it coming.

Chop.

Post task, we got a nice cup of tree. Sorry, tea. And because I have no time to shoehorn in the puns we came up with, here they are in list form:

Who's scythe are you on? Always look on the briiiight scythe of life. Look at the scythe of his thing!

I'm sure there's more, comment below!

Innit. Aaron