⚡⚡ Petrol Power ⚡⚡

On a GoodGym mission, you usually burn your energy to do good and create a positive impact on the world. Today I found out that there are times when you also burn fossil fuels - so your impact is both positive and negative. It is a balance of power.

"With great power come great exhaust fumes", said the tireless gardener Sevan of Ealing. There was plenty of power available for Sevan and Kash when they arrived at Mrs M's house in Wembley. It manifested itself in the form of a large petrol strimmer. Our host, Mr M, said he could no longer use the heavy tool because of his back problems but helped us a lot with setting the strimmer to work. When in doubt, he reached out for expertise to a man he called "Brother". The Brother arrived at the same time as we did to lend his technical proficiency to the team.

The moment I saw the strimmer, I fell in love with it. Armed with protective eyewear, I put the strap of the tool across my shoulder and wielded the weapon of destruction to deliver my version of the judgement day to the grass in Mrs M's overgrown back garden. Sevan was kind enough to let me have all the fun.

With great power comes great responsibility, so I turned my back on Sevan and the Brothers to make sure no one would get hit by the cuttings from the strimmer that I was launching into the air. Because of that, I had no idea about Sevan's adventures happening behind me. I know his exploits involved the second strimmer, an electric one, that refused to work. That option has been abandoned, so the petrol strimmer remained the last hope against the grass.

"With great power come great vibrations" - another great quote from Sevan. I must admit that the strimmer shook me a bit but I had plenty of time to rest because I had to switch it off several times for maintenance. Firstly, it kept coming in contact with objects hidden in the grass like broken pots, buckets or metal wires that wrapped around the rotating part and needed to be removed. Secondly, the strimmer line was not coming out and after a few attempts to make it work and breaking some plastic parts the whole spool had to be replaced. Luckily, the Brother did not disappoint. He was prepared with the replacement parts, knew what he was doing and wouldn't let us use a broken tool.

While Mr M went to the kitchen to prepare some coffee for us, Sevan busied himself with raking and disposing of what I have already cut. I was brushing on my culinary skills, blending the apples I hadn't kicked out of my way with the strimmer.

By the end of the task, something went wrong with the strimmer again. Mr M, who started using the lawnmower after we had cleared the tall grass, joined Brother in fixing the petrol beast. At that point, the only remaining job was to dispatch the brambles from the back of the garden. Sevan and I did it in no time. After we packed everything into the green bin, we noticed the Brothers were still busy with the strimmer repair. We had to leave them with that task and run the next mission. We hope they managed to bring the weapon of destruction back to life and that Mrs M could enjoy her garden, free of excess grass and exhaust fumes.