Patio clearance

Four runners gathered in Islington on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to help Ms P tidy up her patio.

The first challenge was finding a way into the address. After some initial investigative work by John & Alex, and a few circles around the block, we were spotted by some neighbours who kindly let us through the gate.

Ms P was waiting for us & led us through to the smallest patio in the world! She had some vines that needed cutting back and a broken table moved. John & Patrick set to work on the vines while Alex & Hazel gathered the cuttings. Many hands made light work so this only took 5 minutes. Attention turned to the broken table & as the space was so small we formed a human chain to move the pots that were resting on it out the way. Patrick & Alex then did the heavy lifting while John & Hazel reversed the human chain to move the pots back. Finished!

Or not, we then spotted that we could with some steps reach more of the vines from the outside of the garden, & proceeded to trim back the overgrowth to give Ms P more light onto the patio area. Many bags of green waste later & the pavement well swept with the sparkliest dust pan & brush, and we were done.

Or not! Ms P mentioned that if we had time could we trim back a bush that was encroaching on the front path & bothering her neighbours. Seeing as how we'd made such light work of the rest of it this seemed like a small ask so on we cracked & another couple bags were filled. Done! (Actually done!)

Ms P was very happy with the progress made, & 4 runners set off for ice cream & their respective runs home.