A chirp off the old block

Camden's third week back went well last night with another 5 Camdeners joining Trainer Ben out on the mean streets.

We welcomed a tourist from Islington - hello Sarah! - and a complete newbie to GoodGym, Tamara! Hope you both enjoyed yourself and realised that, even with a cap of 5 runners, Camden is definitely the best GoodGym around. Hope to see you again with us soon.

It was Russell Square Garden's' turn this evening with our first of two Wednesday evening sessions with David. The task was simple - install a big bird feeder and sign of the bird species they're hoping to attract. There was hand trowel digging, big spades and forks and seemingly endless amounts of rock and knotted roots. At one point we thought we might've hit the top of a well-preserved Roman settlement - it really was that impermeable at times.

No tool was used by any more than one person and everyone had gloves on. The new normal, for the time being at least. We can now also add cement-pouring and mixing to our unique Goodgym set of skills too! There was even use of an iPhone spirit level (it's next to your compass in Tools if you haven't used it before) to make sure that the feeder base was exactly level at 0º. It was oddly satisfying to see that we held it at 0º completely by eye initially.

We stayed for an hour (overrunning a little with a fiddly job of levelling the two signpost holes) and finished one set of birdfeeder and signs. We'll be back next week to dig and install the seconds set.

It's definitely a different energy to the group when there's only 6 of us, but while it's not the same 25-30 Camdeners mucking in, you get to catch up and chat with people much more which was lovely. After our work was over and the group photo was taken, we headed up to Granary Square for a socially distanced drink and catch up, with John coming from an Islington task to join us for a pint.

It was lovely.

You were missed!

IMPORTANT: While we're limited to 6 people, I ask that you don't turn up on the night if you haven't signed up in advance, as you won't be allowed to run with us. Check the website for our next community mission/group run!