Gold Brush

Brentford. The mysterious town of gold. Legend has it that in one of its gardens there is a jungle where golden artefacts can be found in fabulous abundance. Two fearless Ealing GoodGymers decided to search for the incredible Brentford's El Dorado on one Sunday afternoon.

Armed with a map, Sevan and Kash ran to the town and stopped when they noticed a perplexing single running shoe abandoned in the middle of a residential area. Did it belong to a fellow GoodGymer? Was the GoodGymer swallowed by the mythical jungle? Do they still run away from something with only one shoe on?

A few metres away there was an entrance to someone's home with a multitude of objects in front of it. Sevan rang the doorbell and an automatic voice responded, explaining that the person living there couldn't get to the door at the moment. After recording a routine speech, Sevan pressed the doorbell button again. An older man, struggling to catch his breath, opened the door. His name was Mr B. He let the GoodGymers into his flat and slowly led them into the room adjoining the garden. There Sevan and Kash met a gorgeous cat guarding the path to El Dorado. His name was Prince.

There was no sign "abandon all hope ye who enter here" above the garden door. Maybe there should be. Mr B asked the gold seekers to help themselves to unlock the garden entrance, then he settled on a sofa. He explained that his respiratory problems can easily render him breathless. Having COPD, Mr B had difficulty walking around his flat, let alone tending to his garden. Sevan and Kash decided to help Mr R and have a peek into his garden.

On the other side of the garden door, there was a different world: young trees shooting up into the sky, dry twigs and rubbish covering the ground like a carpet, TV cables and antennae intertwining with offshoots, an old heap of cut tree branches under a canopy of ivy and grapevine with juicy bunches of grapes hanging from it.

On a table closest to the entrance, Sevan and Kash found a selection of shears - at least four pairs. Each of the adventurers chose their weapon and advanced into the jungle. Sevan concentrated on hacking the trees by the entrance first while Kash dove deep into the wilderness to clear a path to a place where they could drop the waste. There was no garden bin.

While shears could deal very well with the medium-thick twigs, they were no match for the young tree trunks. Kash was waiting for Sevan to use his catchphrase: "You know what solves this problem? A saw". But the saw was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the GoodGymers kept finding an abundance of things they didn't need, among them: a pair of glasses (not stylish enough for Sevan), lego Minifigures and a Sky Plus Box. Kash finally uncovered what they have been looking for: gold. She closely examined a golden ring, a golden elephant and a golden high heel shoe she uncovered. They were not so golden after all!

Realising that the whole legend was a hoax, the duo hacked furiously through the thicket. Sevan discovered he didn't even need a saw. Using a finessed technique against the trees with shallow roots, he knocked down several of them with a foot. After the branches have been collected and disposed of discreetly behind the shed, the garden looked much more tame and spacious. With a little bit of extra work collecting all the items laying on the ground, Mr B and Prince will enjoy their little outdoor space.