No whey I'm going to miss this

The Decision

It was 4:30pm, and I was about to have my Tea and scrolling through WhatsApp. I overlooked Kash's initial message in the GoodGym Ealing WhatsApp group. I received my shiny good gym T-shirt this afternoon, and I was planning to put it into action immediately. I had two thoughts running over my mind. The soup kitchen task was split into two like the last week 4-6 and 6-8. And before I process the second thought I dropped a message in the group asking if I can do an hour instead. Kash amended the task immediately and I signed up for the 5:15 to 6:15 shift.

The Arrival

As I made the mistake of going to the wrong venue last time, I ensured that I don't repeat the same by verifying the location twice. After reaching there I was greeted by Emma and other familiar faces. I learned their name this time(properly). Everyone was already busy moving around packing things and arranging stuffs.

Wrap them up

The floor was full of opened chocolate boxes that's needs to be binned. Emma tried to get me a recycle bag from a store room. But the door was locked. She went and grabbed the key and after a few attempts of opening the door, she questioned her sanity as whether it was the actual key or not. I then asked to take a look at the key and used my IT knowledge of "inserting pen drive into a port" technique to open the door. Got the recycle bag and swarmed through the 100s of chocolate boxes on the floor.

It's a Crate experience

Time for task two. There were around 27 crates that needs to be shipped from the inside to the outside. As I did two pushups this morning, partly because I was trying to find the slippers under the bed, I smirked at the boxes and tried to carry them all at once. After 0.0013s I decided it is too early to have a broken back. So I carried them in 5 shifts. Carrying crates in two hands, I struggled to open the door to the outside as it is an auto-closing one, and it's hard to push as well. I then evaluated the life choices that led me to this point and put the crates down, opened the door, and then took them out. Emma specifically asked me to put the crates upside down. I was looking for where to put outside and I needed specific instruction on where "outside" is. There was a short queue outside by this time. A few noticed me and instantly read what was going on in my mind. They told me where and how to put the crates.

Time to go back in to get the next set. As I was about to go back, the door was closed. Of course, it will close automatically. I then knocked on the door based on advice from wise people around me and went in. I'm a quick learner, this time I put a few crates in the door to stop them from closing. An old gentleman sitting outside gave me a look and pointed me to the sandbag that is meant to be used as the door stop. 3rd and 4th shifts of crates went out super smooth.

Open em up

The next task was a simple one, we need to put a few protein bars and energy drinks into a carry bag. 100 such bags need to be made. 50+ bags were already made. It took more time to open the new carry bag than to fill them up. So I decided to open the carry bags swiftly and two others started packing them up.

Where's my Tea

Remember the whole thing started because I wanted to make myself a cup of tea. I forgot to have my tea as I was fully pumped up to do the task. Again my thoughts were transmitted fiercely around the air. The Ealing soup kitchen received the signal, and it was a short tea break. I had a cup of tea which gave me the energy to do the next task.

Transporter

The 100 bags needed to be carried to the front so that they can be easily distributed. I took 10 bags at a time and felt proud of my strength. After the 5th attempt, I felt I need to reduce my speed and went with 5 bags at a time. The food was ready and packed in the meantime, and it was meal time.

Tag team

I was covering the men's section and distributing clothes that were tagged by Claire and others last week. Then I saw someone walking in. I thought I have seen this person somewhere. Yep, I clearly am. It's Gen who I met on my very first good gym task. Gen and I tag-teamed and covered the Men's section. Gen was supporting both Men's and Women's sections as she was knowledgeable in both. She helped a person pick dog food for their 8-month-old dog and was covering the toiletries as well.

The Creepy walk

The last task of my day was to do the "creepy walk". I assisted a soup kitchen volunteer in successfully crossing the "creepy walk" and disposing of food waste boxes. I don't want to spoil what that was and leave it to goodgymers to figure it out who might be covering the task next time. I then left and Gen continued to do her good deeds