The task at ask was to help Mr D with some gardening. His son C answered the door, and let me into the back garden and showed me what was up. Unfortunately Mr D had quite advanced dementia and C had moved in with him, as he was not able to manage on his own. C was brilliant, but did not have green fingers, and the flower beds in the garden were overgrown with nasty brambles and weeds, and he wanted these cleared so Mr D could enjoy some outdoor space again.

Mr C admitted to me that he wasn’t a gardener. I told him me neither! He showed me some tools, and left me to it. We didn’t have a small trowel to hand, but the big shovel and a little fork sufficed.

I completely lost track of time, as I made friends with all sorts of mini-beasts. There were centipedes and spiders, beetles and bugs, slugs and regrettably a nasty Bush full of snails too. An hour and a half absolutely flew by, as I tackled brambles and complex root systems and weeded out the flower beds.

I’d hardly touched the surface, but filled a whole bag of gardening waste up! C was really pleased, and ever so lovely and grateful for my help. Although I’d only managed about 3 or 4 metres along the bed, I’d cleared a load of brambles and bindweed and it certainly did look better.

Mr D came down to say thank you, and I had a nice chat with C as the sun started to set and turned to sky a gorgeous dusky pink. I had to head off though, as I realised I didn’t have bike lights with me! Hopefully I can come back soon to finish the job… and maybe have some company to help me with the snail situation!!