Sweet sweet srub-a-dub-dub

Concrete is a wonderful thing. Just ask a brutalist (of the architecture variety), or a builder, or one of those people of who drive them big spinny lorry thingys.

Concrete and London know each other very well. A little like Bill and Ben, just a little more grey.

Which can sometimes be the problem.

Take Charlton Station. Situated in lovely South East London, its your perfect spot to quickly jump into or out of London. It is, in other words, wonderfully useful. But it can be a little grey. With all that concrete, it can't help but be a little grey.

But as soon as you step off of the platforms, you get to a little garden maintained with loving care. Think beautiful planters, wall climbers, and even one of them wholesome rainwater collectors. It's a bit of bliss cared for by some very lovely members of the Charlton community.

And we were there to make things a little... well a little less grey. The concrete walls on the far side are due a lick of new paint, and it's a lick that we'll be helping with next week. They've borne the brunt of a few decades of London weather and pollution and are looking forward to being a bit brighter again.

Our task for the evening was to scrub. To scrub away the accumulated dirt and the grime so that next week's paint clings to the walls smoothly and nicely.

Intrepid GoodGym Greenwich good-deeders Francis, Jenny, Julian, Sarah, and Steve got to the job with buckets of sugar soap and much elbow grease. Some went up ladders, whilst others covered the bottom half. And in 60 minutes, we were seeing dirt and moss washed into the gutters. We could even, with a squint and a wink, see (or at least imagine...) what the wall's original colour really was.

After just over an hour, we packed up and bid our farewell to the lovely group who maintain this communal garden week in week out.

We'll be back next Wednesday to start turning our blank canvas into something a little brighter again.

Nice one.